^  PRINCETON,  N.J. 


Purchased  by  the  Hammill  Missionary  Fund. 


Division  3  5  & 

Section 

JViwiber  


Zbc  MorI5'0  (Brcat  lEyplorcre 


anb  Bjplorations. 

Edited  by  J.  Scott  Keltie,  Librarian,  Royal  Geographical  Society ; 
H.  J.  Mackinder,  M.A.,  Reader  in  Geography  at  the  University 
of  Oxford;  and  E.  G.  Ravenstein,  F.R.G.S. 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER 


MUNGO  PAJtiK. 

{Frontispiece.) 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


JOSEPH  '-THOMSON, 

AXJTHOR  OP  "THROUGH  MASAI  LAND,"  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 

DODD,  MEAD  &  COMPAJSTY 

PUBLISHEKS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/mungoparknigerOOthom 


EDITORIAL  PREFACE. 


The  story  of  the  world's  exploration  is  always  attrac- 
tive. We  naturally  take  a  keen  interest  in  the  per- 
sonaHty  of  the  men  who  have  dared  to  force  their  way 
into  the  unknown,  and  so  unveiled  to  us  the  face  of 
mother  earth.  The  interest  in  the  work  of  exploration 
has  been  particularly  strong  and  widespread  in  recent 
years,  and  it  is  believed  that  a  series  of  volumes  dealing 
with  the  great  explorers  and  explorations  of  the  past 
is  likely  to  prove  welcome  to  a  wide  circle  of  readers. 
Without  a  knowledge  of  what  has  been  accomplished, 
the  results  of  the  unprecedented  exploring  activity  of 
the  present  cannot  be  understood.  It  is  hoped,  there- 
fore, that  the  present  series  will  supply  a  real  want. 
With  one  or  two  exceptions,  each  volume  will  deal 
mainly  with  one  leading  explorer,  bringing  out  pro- 
minently the  man's  personality,  telling  the  story  of  his 
life,  and  showing  in  full  detail  what  he  did  for  the  ex- 
ploration of  the  world.  When  it  may  be  necessary  to 
depart  somewhat  from  the  general  plan,  it  will  always 
be  kept  in  view  that  the  series  is  essentially  a  popular 


vi 


EDITORIAL  PREFACE. 


one.  When  complete  the  series  will  form  a  Biogra- 
phical History  of  Geographical  Discovery. 

The  Editors  congratulate  themselves  on  having  been 
able  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  men  well  known  as 
the  highest  authorities  in  their  own  departments ;  their 
names  are  too  familiar  to  the  public  to  require  intro- 
duction. Each  writer  is  of  course  entirely  responsible 
for  his  own  work. 


THE  EDITORS. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 
I.  THE  FIRST  GLIMMERING  OF  LIGHT     ...  I 
II.  MORE  LIGHT  :   THE  ARAB  PERIOD       ...  6 
IIL  OPENING  UP  THE  WAY  TO  THE  NIGER        .         .  I9 
IV.  PREPARING  FOR  PARK  :   THE  AFRICAN  ASSOCIA- 
TION   31 

V.  MUNGO  PARK   36 

VL  AT  THE  THRESHOLD   46 

Vir.  FROM  THE  GAMBIA  TO  THE  SENKGaL          .          .  53 

Vin.  ACROSS  THE  SENKGAL  BASIN       ....  65 

IX.  TO  LDDAMAR   76 

X.  CAPTIVITY  IN  LUDAMAR   85 

XI.  TO  THE  NIGER   97 

XII.  DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SILLA        .         .         .         .  I07 

Xin.  THE  RETURN  'JHROUGH  BAMBARRA     .         .         .  I20 

XIV.  REST  AT  KAMALIA   1 34 

XV.  THE  SLAVE  ROUTE   1 43 

XVI.  BACK  TO  THE  GAMBIA  AND  HOME      .         .  -154 

XVIL  MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME   1 64 

xviiL  MUNGO  PARK  AT  HO^^iE— {continued)  .       .  -175 

XIX.  PREPARING  FOR  A  J^EW  EXPEDITION           .          .  186 

XX.  park's  SECOND  RETURN  TO  THE  GAMBIA  .         .  I96 

XXI.  STILL  STRUGGLING  TOWARDS  THE  GREAT  RIVER  2o8 

XXIL  TO  THE  NIGER   221 

XXin.  THE  LAST  OF  PARK   233 

XXIV.  THE  FDLAH  REVOLUTION   246 

XXV.  NEW  ENTERPRISES  AND  NEW  THEORIES     .         .  254 

XXVL  THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER     .         .         .  264 

XXVII.  THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  T<(IGER— (continued)  277 

XXVIIL  FILLING  UP  THE  DETAILS   288 

XXIX.  THE  FRENCH  ADVANCE  TO  THE  NIGER       .         .  3OI 

XXX.  THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY  ....  307 
XXXL  THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY — (continued)  .  -319 

INDEX   333 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS. 


FULL-PAGE  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1.  Portrait  of  Mungo  Park   Frontispiece 

2.  Facsimile  Extract  of  Letter  from  Mungo  Park  to 

Dr.  Anderson  facing  page  42 

3.  Bambarra  Women  Pounding  Corn  .       .       .       .  ,,  112 

4.  Bammaku   „  128 

5.  Baobab  Tree   ,,  144 

6.  Facsimile  Extract  of  Mungo  Park's  Letter  to  his 

Wife   „  180 

7.  Eock  Scenery  of  the  Upper  Senegal       .       .       .  „  212 

8.  Portrait  of  Captain  Clapperton       .       .       .       ,  265 

9.  View  in  Sokoto   ,,  275 

10.  Akassa     ...........  286 

11.  Timbuktu   „  292 

12.  Traders'  House,  Abutshi   ,,  322 

13.  Haussa  Village   330 

ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  TEXT. 

Birthplace  of  Mungo  Park  page  37 

Mungo  Park's  Encampment   207 

Group  of  Fulahs     ...........  247 

Portrait  of  Richard  Lander  ,,  282 

View  on  the  Niger  above  Lokoja  .       .       .       .       .       •  294 

Haussa  Hut   326 

Portrait  of  the  Sultan  of  Sokoto's  Brother     ,       ,       .       .  328 

MAPS  {Printed  in  Colours). 

L  Guinea  facing  page  i 

11.  Mungo  Park's  Travels  „  47 

HL  Libya  Secundum  Ptolomseum,  A.  C.  130       ,       .       .     at  end 

IV.  Edrisi's  Africa,  11 54  

V.  Catalan,  Map  of  the  World,  Western  Half,  1375  .  . 


VI.  Guinea  and  the  Sudan,  according  to  D'Anville,  1749  . 
Vil.  Guinea  and  the  Sudan,  according  to  J.  Rennell,  1798  . 


MAPS  IN  TEXT. 

0.  Dapper,  Nigritarum  Eegio,  1671  page  24 

O.  Dapper,  1671  ,,25 

Reduced  Fac-simile  of  Mungo  Park's  Autograph  ]\Lip  .  .  ,,  185 
The  Bussa  Rapids  „  241 


MUNGO  PAKE  AND  THE  NIGEE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  FIRST  GLIMMERING  OF  LIGHT. 

To  find  the  first  allusion  to  the  River  Niger  we  have 
to  go  back  to  the  very  dawn  of  history. 

Many  centuries  before  the  Christian  era  the  spirit  of 
geographical  inquiry  was  abroad.  There  were  then,  as 
in  later  times,  ardent  minds  whose  eager  curiosity  would 
not  let  them  rest  content  with  a  knowledge  of  their  own 
countries.  Then,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  kings  and  em- 
perors thirsted  for  political  aggrandisement,  merchants 
for  new  sources  of  wealth,  and  enterprising  spirits  for 
opportunities  to  do  deeds  of  high  emprise  which  would 
send  their  names  down  to  posterity. 

Phoenicia,  Greece,  Carthage,  Rome,  had  each  its  bold 
navigators  and  travellers,  whose  explorations  can  be 
more  or  less  credibly  gleaned  from  the  mass  of  fable 
and  misrepresentation  which  time  and  ignorance  have 
gathered  round  them. 

Even  in  those  early  days — twenty  or  more  centuries 
ago — Africa  was  the  chief  centre  of  attraction  to  such  as 
longed  to  extend  their  possessions  or  their  knowledge  of 
the  earth's  surface.    Already  the  mystery  of  the  Nile 

A 


2 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


and  Inner  Africa  beyond  the  Great  Desert  had  asserted 
its  fascination  over  men's  minds.  The  Mediterranean 
nations  vied  with  each  other  in  sending  expedition  after 
expedition  to  explore  the  coast-line,  and  if  possible 
circumnavigate  the  continent.  Of  these  some  ventured 
by  way  of  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  —  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules,  as  they  were  then  called — while  others  tried 
the  Red  Sea  and  the  eastern  coast.  What  these  ancient 
mariners  actually  accomplished  has  been  for  centuries  a 
matter  of  keen  dispute,  with  but  small  clearing  up  of 
the  obscure  horizon.  It  is  not  therefore  for  us  to  enter 
into  the  debatable  land,  and  happily  the  questions  in- 
volved lie  outside  our  province.  Sufficient  for  our  pur- 
pose is  it  to  know  that  very  extensive  voyages  were 
undertaken  along  both  the  east  and  west  coasts  of 
Africa.  Among  the  most  noteworthy  and  credible  of 
these  is  the  expedition  sent  by  Necho,  King  of  Egypt, 
with  Phoenician  navigators,  which  is  said  to  have  accom- 
plished the  circumnavigation  of  the  continent ;  and  the 
Carthaginian  expedition  of  Hanno,  which  undoubtedly 
explored  the  western  coast  for  a  very  considerable  dis- 
tance towards  the  equator. 

But  the  enterprise  of  the  Mediterranean  nations  w^as 
not  confined  only  to  the  coast-line.  The  commercial 
spirit  of  Carthage  and  the  warlike  genius  of  Rome  alike 
led  them  to  seek  the  interior. 

In  this  direction,  however,  each  was  fated  to  be  as 
effectually  checked  as  their  sailors  had  been  by  sea.  The 
burning  heat,  the  wide  stretches  of  barren  sand,  the  water- 
less wastes,  and  the  savage  nomads  which  they  had  to 
encounter,  were  as  terrible  to  face  as  the  huge  waves  and 
frightful  storms  of  the  Atlantic.  To  the  natural  terrors 
of  this  desert  region,  forsaken  of  the  gods,  their  imagl- 


THE  FIRST  GLIMMERING  OF  LIGHT.  3 


nation  added  every  conceivable  monstrosity,  so  that  he 
indeed  was  a  bold  man  who  ventured  from  the  gay  and 
pleasant  confines  of  the  northern  lands  into  the  awful 
horrors  of  the  Sahara. 

Yet  men  there  must  have  been,  whether  warriors, 
merchants,  or  simple  explorers,  we  know  not,  who 
crossed  the  dreaded  desert  zone,  and  reached  the  more 
fertile  countries  of  the  negroes  which  lay  beyond.  In 
the  pages  of  Herodotus  and  Strabo,  of  Pliny  and  of 
Ptolemy,  amid  all  the  mythological  absurdities  and 
ridiculous  stories  with  which  they  abound,  we  find  not 
only  ample  evidence  of  such  successful  adventure,  but 
a  wonderfully  just  estimate  of  the  physical  conditions 
which  characterised  the  region  lying  between  the  Medi- 
terranean and  the  Sudan.  They  describe  fii-st  a  zone  of 
sharply  contrasted  fertihty  and  barrenness,  of  green  oasis 
and  repellent  desert,  scantily  inhabited  by  wild,  roving 
ti'ibes.  Next  comes  a  more  terrible  region  lying  further 
to  the  south — a  land  of  desolation  and  death,  swept  by 
the  wild  sirocco  and  sandstorm,  burnt  by  fierce  relent- 
less suns,  unrefreshed  by  sparkling  earth-born  springs, 
unmoistened  by  the  heaven-sent  rain  or  by  the  gentle 
dew  of  night.  Beyond  lies  a  third  region — the  land  of 
the  negroes — made  fertile  by  spring  and  stream,  by 
marsh  and  lake. 

More  remarkable  still  is  the  fact  that  in  each  of  the 
writers  mentioned  we  find  clear  indications  of  a  know- 
ledge of  a  great  river  running  through  Negroland. 

With  minds  on  the  search  for  a  solution  of  the  Nile 
problems — its  origin,  its  course,  and  the  mystery  of  its 
annual  overflow — and  from  the  likelihood  that  some  of 
their  informants  had  actually  seen  this  river  when  it 
ran  in  an  easterly  direction,  the  opinion  generally 


4 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


adopted  by  the  ancients  was  that  the  river  of  the 
negroes  was  the  Nile  itself. 

Of  the  various  sources  of  information  upon  which  the 
classical  writers  depended  for  their  descriptions  of  these 
savage  lands  we  know  but  little.  One  there  is,  however, 
which  stands  out  with  wonderful  clearness  and  pro- 
minence and  a  general  air  of  credibility — the  expedition 
of  the  Nasamones  as  related  by  Herodotus. 

The  Nasamones — five  young  men  of  distinction,  doubt- 
less without  suitable  outlets  for  their  ambitions  and 
energies  at  home — set  out  from  their  native  country 
to  the  south-west  of  Egypt,  bent  on  the  exploration 
of  the  heart  of  Africa. 

Travelling  partly  south  and  partly  west,  they  crossed 
the  semi-inhabited,  semi- sterile  zone.  Arrived  at  the 
confines  of  the  gi'eat  desert,  they  collected  provisions 
and  supplied  themselves  with  water,  and  bold  in  heart 
"  to  seek,  to  conquer,  or  to  die,"  plunged  into  the  ter- 
rible unknown.  For  many  weary  days  they  pursued 
their  quest  with  unabated  courage  and  perseverance. 
At  length  they  emerged  from  the  region  of  desolation 
and  death,  and  found  themselves  in  a  fertile  country 
inhabited  by  pigmies,  having  abundance  of  fruit  trees, 
and  watered  by  vast  lakes  and  marshes.  Further- 
more, they  found  a  large  river  flowing  from  west  to 
east. 

Whether  these  enterprising  young  African  explorers 
had  reached  the  neighbourhood  of  Lake  Chad,  as  we 
might  be  disposed  to  believe,  or  the  Niger  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  great  bend  of  the  main  stream,  it  would  be  waste 
of  time  to  ask.  Let  us  be  satisfied  with  knowing  that' 
at  this  very  early  period  of  the  world's  history,  many 
centuries   before  the   Christian   era,  the  Central  or 


THE  FIRST  GLIMMERING  OF  LIGHT. 


5 


Western  Sudan  of  our  days  was  reached,  and  the  fact 
estabhshed  that  through  it  ran  a  great  river. 

In  this  way  the  exploration  of  Central  Africa  was 
inaugurated — the  first  uncertain  ghmmer  of  light  thrown 
upon  its  dark  surface ;  and  the  River  Niger  revealed  to 
the  world  to  be  a  theme  of  discussion  to  arm-chair 
geographers,  and  a  goal  to  be  aimed  at  by  the  more 
adventurous  spirits  who  would  reahse  their  thoughts 
in  deeds  rather  than  on  paper. 


CHAPTER  II. 


MORE  LIGHT:  THE  ARAB  PERIOD. 

Tor  many  centuries  but  little  was  added  to  the  know- 
ledge of  Africa  acquired  by  the  early  classical  writers. 
Carthage  fell  from  its  high  estate,  and  on  its  ruins 
Rome,  with  boundless  ambition  and  seemingly  bound- 
less powers  of  attainment,  built  for  itself  a  new  and 
equally  magnificent  African  Empire.  But  where  man 
could  not  stay  the  advancing  tide,  Nature  set  bounds 
to  the  force  of  Roman  arms,  and  at  the  borders  of 
the  desert  mutely  said,  "Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and 
no  further." 

The  Roman  power  rose  to  the  zenith  of  its  glory, 
and  still  the  desert  remained  uncrossed ;  it  dwindled 
towards  its  fall,  and  then  its  days  of  geographical  con- 
quest were  over.  In  Northern  Africa,  as  elsewhere, 
the  mythological  gave  place  to  the  Christian  era,  and 
the  influence  of  the  new  religion  spread  apparently  to 
the  remotest  desert  tribes.  It  was  not,  however,  fated 
to  be  permanent.  In  the  seventh  century  a  new  prophet 
had  risen  in  the  Sacred  East,  and  the  seeds  of  a  mighty 
revolution  were  germinating  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia. 
The  boundaries  of  its  parent  country  soon  proved  too 
small  for  the  astonishing  vitalities  and  ardent  missionary 
enterprise  of  the  new  faith — the  faith  of  Islam.  Burst- 
ing out,  it  pushed  with  incredible  rapidity  along  the 


MORE  LIGHT  :  THE  ARAB  PERIOD. 


7 


north  of  Africa,  overwhelming  Paganism  and  Chris- 
tianity alike  in  its  irresistible  course,  till  reaching  the 
Atlantic  it  turned  to  north  and  south  in  search  of  new- 
fields  to  conquer  for  God.  The  natural  difficulties  which 
had  stopped  the  southern  progress  of  the  Carthaginians 
and  the  Romans  formed  no  barrier  to  a  people  born  in 
a  desert.  In  the  plateau  lands  of  the  Berber  tribes  the 
Arabs  were  at  home.  Wmged  with  a  fiery  enthusiasm 
which  nothing  could  withstand,  and  inspired  by  a  hope 
of  heaven  which  nothing  could  shake,  they  swept  from 
district  to  district,  from  tribe  to  tribe,  everywhere  car- 
rying the  blazing  torch  of  Islam,  everywhere  striking 
fire  from  the  roving  people  with  whom  they  came  in 
contact,  till  from  every  Saharan  oasis  there  was  heard 
the  common  cry,  "There  is  no  God  but  the  one  God." 
In  the  new  conflagration  Christian  symbols  and  Pagan 
idols  alike  disappeared  in  one  fell  holocaust. 

To  a  race  so  educated  and  nurtured,  so  steeped  in 
fiery  ardour  and  unquenchable  faith,  and  so  imbued 
with  the  paramount  importance  of  their  mission — pro- 
vided, moreover,  as  regards  the  practical  part  of  their 
work,  with  the  drought-enduring  camel,  hitherto  un- 
known in  Africa — the  so-called  impassable  desert  was 
no  barrier  to  the  performance  of  the  task  divinely  set 
them.  Only  for  him  who  turned  back  did  hell  ya^vn. 
For  him  who  went  forward  it  might  be  death,  but  it 
was  death  with  Paradise  gained. 

In  this  spirit  the  terrors  of  the  Sahara  were  faced, 
and  faced  only  to  be  conquered ;  and  ere  the  ninth 
century  gave  place  to  the  tenth,  the  land  of  the  negroes 
was  reached,  and  the  forces  of  Islam  set  themselves  in 
array  against  those  of  heathendom.  For  the  first  time 
the  Niger  basin  was  now  brought  into  direct  relation 


8 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


with  Northern  Africa.  The  actual  time  when  this  was 
accompHshed  is  still  a  matter  of  some  doubt,  though  the 
statement  is  quoted  by  Earth  that  within  less  than  a 
hundred  years  of  the  commencement  of  the  Moham- 
medan era,  schools  and  mosques  were  established  in  the 
negro  kingdom  of  Ghana  or  Ghanata,  to  the  west  of 
Timbuktu.  More  incontestable  is  the  statement  of  the 
Arab  writer,  Ebn  Khaldun  (a.d.  1380),  that  trading 
relations  existed  about  280  A.H.  or  893  a.d.  between 
the  Upper  Niger  and  Northern  Africa,  When  these 
were  first  established  we  are  not  informed. 

The  vital  forces  which  had  found  no  barrier  in  the 
fierce  nomads  and  physical  difficulties  of  the  Sahara, 
and  had  carried  the  disciples  of  Mohammed  to  the 
borders  of  the  Sudan,  met  a  check  to  their  sweeping 
progress  where  one  would  have  least  expected  it.  Half 
the  secret  of  the  success  of  Islam  had  been  that 
principle  in  the  creed  which  was  calculated  to  attract 
and  inflame  the  ardent  imaginations  and  easily  excited 
temperaments  of  the  Berber  tribes  of  the  north.  With 
these  Mohammedanism  required  but  little  aid  from  fire 
and  sword  for  the  spread  of  its  tenets.  It  had  but  to 
be  preached  to  be  believed,  making  every  hearer  not 
only  a  convert  but  a  missionary  aflame  with  enthusiasm 
for  the  cause  of  God  and  Mohammed.  Such,  however, 
was  not  the  case  when  Islam  came  face  to  face  with  the 
undeveloped  lethargic  minds  of  the  barbarous  blacks  of 
the  Sudan.  The  intellect  of  the  negro  had  to  be  pre- 
pared for  the  reception  of  the  new  spiritual  doctrines. 

For  a  time  a  hard  and  fast  line  existed  between  Islam 
and  Heathendom  more  or  less  closely  coinciding  with 
that  drawn  between  Berber  and  Negro,  Sahara  and 
Sudan. 


MORE  LIGHT  :  THE  ARAB  PERIOD. 


9 


Only  for  a  time,  however.  Though  the  new  rehgious 
force  could  sweep  on  no  longer  in  an  irresistible,  all- 
embracing  tide,  it  was  not  to  be  prevented  from  gradu- 
ally working  its  way  into  the  sodden  mass  of  Paganism. 
Along  the  whole  line  of  opposing  forces  from  Sene- 
gambia  to  Lake  Chad,  Mohammedan  missionaries  pene- 
trated, not  with  fire  and  sword  and  all  the  horrors  of 
brute  force,  but  armed  with  the  spiritual  weapons  of  faith, 
hope,  and  ardent  enthusiasm.  Under  their  fostering 
care  schools  and  mosques  arose,  around  which  converts 
gathered  in  ever-increasing  numbers,  until  at  length 
every  region  had  its  leavening  germs,  and  awaited  but 
the  proper  moment  and  the  inspired  leader  to  raise  the 
watchword  of  Islam,  and  once  more  sweep  onward  with 
all  the  accumulated  force  of  the  dammed  back  torrent. 

Within  a  short  time  of  each  other  two  such  leaders 
appeared  at  opposite  points  of  the  Niger  basin.  In 
the  west,  near  the  great  bend  of  the  Niger,  a  king  of 
Songhay  embraced  Islam  about  the  year  looo,  while 
near  the  close  of  the  same  century  a  king  of  Bornu 
followed  his  example.^ 

From  those  dates  a  new  and  more  promising  era  com- 
menced for  the  Central  and  Western  Sudan,  Under  the 
fostering  care  and  impulse  of  the  new  religion  these 
backward  regions  commenced  an  upward  progress.  A 
new  and  powerful  bond  drew  the  scattered  congeries 
of  tribes  together  and  welded  them  into  powerful  com- 
munities. Their  moral  and  spiritual  well-being  increased 
by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  their  political  and  social  life 
took  an  altogether  higher  level.  The  arts  and  industries 
of  the  North  speedily  became  established  among  them, 
and  with  them  came  the  love  of  decent  dress,  of  cleanli- 

*  Earth's  Travels,  vols.  ii.  and  iv.,  Appendices  V.  and  IX. 


10 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


ness,  of  more  orderly  conduct.  Whatever  might  be  said 
of  Mohammedanism  in  its  final  influence,  there  could  be 
no  question  but  that  it  had  the  amount  of  good  in  it 
necessary  to  raise  a  barbarous  people  to  a  higher  level  of 
civilisation.  There  was  an  adaptability  and  a  simplicity 
about  it  well  suited  to  the  comprehension  of  untutored 
minds,  and  in  that  lay  the  secret  of  a  success  such  as 
has  never  since  been  even  distantly  approached  by  any 
other  propagandist  religion  in  Africa. 

To  the  rulers  of  Songhay  and  Bornu  the  watchword  of 
Islam,  "  There  is  no  God  but  the  one  God,"  soon  became 
a  war-cry  destined  to  be  irresistible  in  its  magic  influ- 
ence. Armed  with  the  new  spiritual  force  these  hitherto 
barbarous  kingdoms  rose  to  extraordinary  heights  of 
power.  Songhay  gradually  spread  its  influence  over  all 
the  upper  reaches  of  the  Niger  till  it  had  absorbed  the 
old  kingdoms  of  Ghanata,  to  the  north  of  the  Niger,  and 
Melli,  to  the  south.  With  the  political  influences  of 
Songhay  went  the  religious  forces  at  its  back.  At  times 
there  were  checks  to  its  military  power,  but  only  when 
the  religious  enthusiasm  and  missionary  ardour  of  its 
rulers  temporarily  sank  and  were  outstripped  by  the 
greater  zeal  of  neighbouring  princes.  With  these  excep- 
tions, the  history  of  Songhay  was  that  of  general  progress, 
political,  social,  and  commercial.  The  kingdom  reached 
the  zenith  of  its  power  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century  under  a  powerful  negro  king  named  Hadj 
Mohammed  Askia,  whose  rule  extended  from  the  centre 
of  the  present  empire  of  Sokoto  to  the  borders  of  the 
Atlantic,  a  distance  from  east  to  west  of  1500  miles, 
and  from  Mosi  in  the  south  as  far  as  the  oasis  of  Tawat 
in  the  north,  i.e.,  something  over  1000  miles.^ 
*  Earth's  Travels,  vol.  iv.  p.  415. 


MORE  LIGHT :  THE  ARAB  PERIOD. 


11 


Askia  was  no  mere  warrior  anxious  for  his  own 
aggrandisement.  As  was  the  case  with  all  the  great 
Sudanese  rulers  of  those  early  days,  he  was  noted  for 
his  ardent  faith  as  well  as  for  his  love  of  justice  and 
clemency,  so  that,  as  his  historian,  Ahmed  Baba  of  Tim- 
buktu, wTote  of  him,  "  God  made  use  of  his  services  in 
order  to  save  the  true  believers  (in  Negroland)  from 
their  sufferings  and  calamities."  He  built  mosques  and 
schools,  and  did  everything  in  his  power  to  encourage 
learning ;  and  not  unmindful  of  the  material  prosperity 
of  his  people,  encouraged  merchants  from  all  parte  of 
the  Sudan,  the  Sahara,  and  North  Africa.  Thus  not 
only  was  he  loved  and  revered  by  his  subjects,  but  his 
fame  extended  to  the  most  distant  countries. 

Unhappily  the  magnificent  empire  thus  founded  had 
not  the  elements  of  stability.  There  was  too  much  of 
the  one  man  power,  with  no  firm  governmental  founda- 
tions apart  from  the  ruler.  In  consequence,  the  history 
of  Songhay  was  one  of  varying  fortunes.  Old  kingdoms 
such  as  Melli  temporai-ily  regained  their  independence, 
distant  provinces  were  continually  breaking  loose,  and 
there  were  constant  wars  of  succession  and  military 
revolts.  But  though  often  scotched  it  was  never  killed, 
till  an  altogether  new  enemy  appeared  in  the  person 
of  Mulai  Hamed,  Sultan  of  Morocco,  before  whose 
musketeers  it  was  doomed  to  become  extinct  as  an 
independent  kingdom.  This  happened  in  1 591,  in  the 
reign  of  Askia  Ishak.  Ahmed  Baba,  the  native  his- 
torian, who  lived  at  the  time,  and  was  himself  not  only 
a  material  sufferer,  but  a  prisoner  carried  off  to  Morocco, 
said  of  this  terrible  disaster:  ''Thus  this  Mahalla  (or 
expedition)  at  that  period  found  in  Sudan  (Songhay)  one 
of  those  countries  of  the  earth  which  are  most  favoured 


12 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


with  comfort,  plenty,  peace,  and  prosperity  everywhere ; 
such  was  the  working  of  the  government  of  the  Emir  el 
Mumenin,  Askia  el  Hadj  Mohammed  ben  Abu  Bakr,  in 
consequence  of  his  justice  and  the  power  of  his  royal 
command,  which  took  full  and  peremptory  effect,  not 
only  in  his  capital  (Gogo),  but  in  all  the  districts  of 
his  w^hole  empire,  from  the  province  of  Dendi  to  the 
frontier  of  Morocco,  and  from  the  territory  of  Bennen- 
dugu  (to  the  south  of  Jinni)  as  far  as  Zeghaza  and 
Tawat.  But  in  a  moment  all  was  changed,  and  peace- 
ful repose  was  succeeded  by  a  constant  state  of  fear, 
comfort  and  security  by  troubles  and  suffering;  ruin 
and  misfortune  took  the  place  of  prosperity,  and  people 
began  everywhere  to  fight  against  each  other,  and  pro- 
pei-ty  and  life  became  exposed  to  constant  danger ;  and 
this  ruin  began,  spread,  increased,  and  at  length  pre- 
vailed throughout  the  whole  region."  ^  If  it  be  remem- 
bered that  this  was  written  in  Arabic  by  a  Niger  native 
at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  or  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth centuries  about  a  negro  sultan  ruling  over  a 
kingdom  partly  negro  and  partly  Berber,  the  wonder  of 
it  cannot  but  strike  the  thoughtful  mind. 

But  in  the  Niger  basin  Songhay  was  not  the  only 
centre  of  marvellous  political  and  social  development 
under  the  influence  of  Mohammedanism.  Bornu  w^as 
in  every  sense  its  rivaL  We  have  already  seen  that 
towards  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century  the  king  of 
Bornu  (Dunama  ben  Hum^)  had  embraced  Islam.  The 
result  of  the  union  of  material  power  with  spiritual  in- 
spiration was  soon  made  manifest,  for  before  Ben  Hum6 
died  he  had  founded  a  vigorous  empire  whose  influence 

^  Earth's  Travels,  vol.  iv.,  Appendix  IX.,  p.  624. 


MORE  LIGHT  :  THE  ARAB  PERIOD. 


13 


was  felt  as  far  as  Egj'pt.  It  was  not,  however,  till  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  that  Bomu  rose  to  its 
greatest  power  and  the  zenith  of  its  glory  under  the 
able  rule  of  one  Dibalami  Dunama  Selmami.  At  that 
time  Bornu,  or,  as  it  was  sometimes  called,  Kameni  (?), 
which  was  then  the  seat  of  government,  extended  from 
the  Nile  to  the  Niger,  and  from  Mabina  (Adamawa  ?) 
in  the  south  to  Wadan  in  the  north,  according  to  Imam 
Ahmed  (i 571-1603),  the  native  historian  of  Bornu,  as 
Ahmed  Baba  had  been  that  of  Songhay.  But  Dunama 
did  not  only  increase  the  material  power  of  Bornu. 
Like  Askia  of  Songhay,  he  encouraged  religion,  so  that 
"  the  true  faith  in  his  time  was  largely  disseminated," 
according  to  Ebn  Said  (1282),  an  Arab  writer. 

After  Dunama's  death  troublesome  times  fell  upon 
the  empire,  and  a  long  period  of  civil  wars  and  disastrous 
expeditions  followed.  Brighter  times  came  back  with 
the  ascent  of  AH  (1472)  to  the  throne,  and  once  more 
Bornu  regained  its  former  grandeur.  It  is  clear  that 
All's  kingdom  extended  far  to  the  west  of  the  Niger, 
and  became  known  to  the  Portuguese,  who  as  far  back 
as  1489  show  Bernu  or  Bornu  on  their  maps. 

Under  the  two  succeeding  reigns  of  Edris  and  Moham- 
med, Bornu  still  further  added  to  its  importance,  and 
had  relations  with  the  northern  sultans  of  Tripoli. 

The  most  remarkable,  however,  of  all  the  Bornu  rulers 
seems  to  have  been  Edris  Alawoma  (i 571-1603),  who 
had  the  advantage  of  having  a  contemporary  biographer 
in  the  person  of  Imam  Ahmed.  This  prince  seems  not 
only  to  have  been  an  enterprising  and  able  warrior,  but 
was  distinguished  alike  for  mildness  and  justice,  and  for 
far-seeing  statesmanship.  Under  him  the  empire  grew 
to  enormous  proportions,  and  included  almost  the  whole 


14 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


of  the  Central  and  much  of  the  Western  Sudan.  At 
the  same  time  the  country  became  more  prosperous,  the 
wealth  of  the  towns  increased,  and  the  Mohammedan 
religion  and  education  spread  widely  and  rapidly. 

Happily  Bornu  was  established  on  a  more  stable  basis 
than  Songhay.  It  had  more  cohesion  in  its  various 
elements,  and  was  less  dependent  on  the  warlike  char- 
acter of  its  rulers  to  keep  it  from  falling  to  pieces.  Its 
princes  also  seem  to  have  been  of  a  better  and  more 
liberal-minded  stock.  We  even  gather  from  the  native 
chronicles  that  they  were  "  learned,  liberal  towards  the 
llama,  prodigal  dispensers  of  alms,  friends  of  science  and 
religion,  gracious  and  compassionate  towards  the  poor." 
Hence  it  was  that  while  Songhay  and  other  states 
rose  and  fell,  Bornu  retained  its  position  and  indepen- 
dence. In  the  beginning  of  this  century  it  experienced 
a  temporary  eclipse  before  the  conquering  arms  of  the 
Fillani  in  their  mission  of  religious  regeneration,  but 
only  to  emerge  again  as  vigorous  as  ever,  though  now 
restricted  in  its  political  influence  to  Bornu  proper  and 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  Lake  Chad. 

But  while  Songhay  and  Bornu  were  for  centuries 
working  out  their  remarkable  political,  religious,  social, 
and  commercial  development,  they  were,  as  we  have 
already  pointed  out,  by  no  means  shut  off  from  inter- 
course with  the  outside  world.  The  thirst  for  the  slaves 
of  Bornu  and  for  the  gold  of  Melli  and  the  Upper  Niger 
was  almost  as  potent  a  force  with  the  later  generations 
of  Arabs  as  was  religious  zeal  among  their  ancestors. 
For  the  one  as  for  the  other  all  the  terrors  of  the  desert 
route  were  braved,  and  constant  communication  kept 
up  with  the  Sudan.  At  first  Eg}7)t  seems  to  have  been 
the  first  point  of  departure  of  the  Sudanese  caravan,  one 


MOEE  LIGHT  :  THE  ARAB  PERIOD. 


15 


route  passing  westward  to  Songhay  and  the  region  of  the 
Upper  Niger,  while  another  diverged  from  it,  and  passed 
south  to  the  Chad  basiru  In  later  times  Egypt  gave 
place  to  Tripoli  as  the  starting-point,  though  practically 
the  same  routes  were  utilised  to  reach  the  same  goals. 
At  an  early  period  also  the  most  dangerous  part  of  the 
whole  Sahara,  that  region,  namely,  lying  between  the 
Upper  Niger  and  Morocco,  was  traversed  by  indefatigable 
Mooiish  traders  for  the  sake  of  its  slaves  and  gold. 
The  terminus  of  their  route  was  at  first  considerably 
to  the  west  of  Timbuktu,  at  a  place  called  Biru  or 
Walata,  where,  indeed,  nearly  all  the  western  trans- 
Saharan  traffic  converged  in  the  earlier  days  of  com- 
mercial intercourse. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  Timbuktu 
was  founded  as  a  trading  station  by  the  Tuaregs  of  the 
Sahara,  but  it  was  not  until  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  a 
powerful  king  of  Melli  some  two  centuries  later  that 
it  became  a  place  of  some  importance.  At  once  it  de- 
veloped into  an  international  market  of  the  first  rank, 
where  merchants  from  Egypt,  Tripoli,  Morocco,  the 
Saharan  oases,  and  the  Sudan  met  to  exchange  their 
various  articles  of  barter. 

At  no  time  was  Timbuktu  the  capital  of  a  great  king- 
dom. Its  greatness  solely  depended  upon  its  trade,  and 
its  convenience  as  a  collecting  and  dispersing  centre. 
That  it  should  have  become  so  well  known  above  all  the 
places  of  the  Sudan  is  easily  understood  if  it  be  remem- 
bered that  it  was  the  goal  for  which  all  the  meichants 
of  Northern  Africa  aimed.  Politically,  Timbuktu  was 
thus  raised  to  a  position  of  undue  importance,  though 
commercially,  as  the  merchant  capital,  it  could  not  be 
overrated. 


16 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


With  the  rise  of  the  Songhay  power  Timbuktu  became 
subject  to  that  kingdom.  With  the  fall  of  the  former  it 
assumed  a  measure  of  political  importance  as  the  centre 
of  Moorish  power,  till  on  the  division  from  Morocco  it 
resumed  its  old  status  as  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a 
trading  centre,  a  position  it  has  retained  to  this  day. 

Among  a  people  of  such  commercial  activity  and 
enterprise  as  the  Arabs  of  Morocco,  Tripoli,  and  Egypt, 
naturally  there  were  not  awanting  numbers  of  students 
eager  to  collect  and  collate  information  regarding  the 
inland  countries  to  which  their  merchants  travelled. 
Among  the  host  of  historians  and  geographers  who 
supply  us  with  interesting  facts,  we  may  mention  El 
Bekri,  El  Edrisi  (1153),  Ebn  Said  (1282),  Ebn  Khaldun 
(1382),  and  Makrizi  (1400). 

But  the  Arabs  had  their  explorers  as  well  as  their 
writers.  Among  these  two  stand  out  with  marked  pro- 
minence, viz.,  Ebn  Batuta  (1353),  and  Leo  Africanus 
(1528).  Ebn  Batuta,  who  seems  to  have  been  devoured 
with  a  thirst  for  travel,  and  had  visited  almost  all  the 
countries  of  the  then  known  world,  commenced  his  Central' 
African  explorations  from  Morocco,  and  crossed  the  desert 
to  Walata,  the  frontier  province  of  Melli,  situated  not  far 
from  the  Niger.  From  Walata  he  crossed  the  Niger  to 
the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  and  thence  by  land  proceeded 
to  Timbuktu.  From  Kabara,  the  "  port"  of  Timbuktu, 
he  sailed  down  the  Niger  to  Gogo,  the  capital  of  Songhay, 
and  thence  turned  northward  again  across  the  desert  by 
way  of  the  oasis  of  Tawat  to  Morocco. 

The  travels  of  Leo  Africanus  were  even  more  exten- 
sive, for  he  travelled  over  the  whole  of  the  Central  and 
Western  Sudan.  Considering  that  he  wrote  an  account 
of  his  travels  from  memory  many  years  after,  the  events 


MORE  LIGHT  :  THE  ARAB  PERIOD. 


17 


recorded,  and  the  accm^acy  and  amount  of  varied  infor- 
mation he  gives  regarding  the  countries  he  visited,  are 
astonishing.  He  describes  not  only  the  kingdoms  of 
Melli,  Songhay,  and  Bornu,  but  also  the  countries  that 
lie  between,  Gober,  Katsena,  Kano,  and  Agades,  of  all  of 
which  he  has  something  important  to  say.  Even  when 
he  seems  to  draw  most  upon  our  credulity  he  is  gene- 
rally quite  correct,  as  for  instance  when  he  describes  the 
people  of  one  district  kindling  fires  at  night  under  their 
bedsteads  to  keep  themselves  waini.  To  the  truth  of 
this  statement  the  writer  of  these  lines  can  testify  from 
personal  observation,  the  precaution  being  adopted,  how- 
ever, not  to  ward  off  extei'nal  cold,  but  that  of  ague,  a 
disease  to  which  many  places  on  the  Niger  are  subject 
at  certain  times  of  the  year. 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  enter  into  the  vexed  ques- 
tion of  what  the  Arab  writers  and  travellers  knew  re- 
garding the  course  and  final  destination  of  the  Niger. 
Tliose  of  them  who  travelled  did  not  do  so  as  geogi^aphers, 
and  though  they  noted  accurately  enough  what  they  did 
see,  they  troubled  themselves  very  little  with  what  they 
did  not  see,  and  held  aloof  from  inquiries  of  a  purely 
speculative  character.  M '  Queen  ^  has  made  it  clear, 
however,  that  many  of  them  were  aware  that  the  Nile 
and  the  Niger  were  distinct,  and  that  the  general  ten- 
dency of  Arab  opinion  was  to  make  the  latter  river  fall 
into  the  Atlantic. 

Much  of  the  confusion  as  to  what  the  Arabs  did  know 
or  believe  arose  largely  from  the  ignorance  of  European 
geographers  in  confounding  the  western  kingdom  of 
Ghana  with  the  central  one  of  Kano,  and  of  the  town 

^  A  Geographical  and  Commercial  View  of  Northern  and  Central 
Africa. 

B 


18 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


of  Kugha,  near  the  Upper  Niger,  with  that  of  Kuka  in 
Bornu.  With  the  new  light  thrown  upon  the  history 
and  geography  of  the  Niger  basin,  we  can  now  see  that 
the  Arab  writers  had  a  wonderfully  accurate  conception 
of  the  political  and  physical  characteristics  of  the  region 
in  question.  To  them  is  due  not  only  the  honour  of 
having  raised  the  veil  which  shrouded  the  Sudan,  and 
spread  the  seeds  of  civilisation,  w^hich  have  flourished 
so  remarkably,  but  also  of  disseminating  a  knowledge  of 
that  region  among  western  nations — a  knowledge  des- 
tined, as  we  shall  see,  to  be  caught  up  and  carried  to  great 
ends  with  European  vigour  and  scientific  accuracy. 


CHAPTER  III. 


OPENING  UP  THE  WAY  TO  THE  NIGER. 

With  Leo  Africanus  the  Arab  period  in  the  history  of 
African  exploration  practically  closed.  Even  in  that 
traveller's  day  the  incurable  diseases  so  characteristic 
of  the  Mohammedan  states  of  our  time  were  rapidly 
developirfg.  Learning  and  the  arts  were  no  longer 
encouraged.  Liberality  of  thought  and  missionary 
enterprise  were  replaced  by  Fanaticism,  hatred  of  the 
stranger,  and  isolation  from  all  outside  genial  influences. 
A  blight  was  falling  over  everything  that  had  made  the 
Arab  name  great  and  glorious  in  the  world's  history. 

Happily  for  the  cause  of  progress,  while  the  Crescent 
thus  waned  and  lost  its  lustre  in  the  rising  mephitic 
fogs,  the  Cross  was  ever  gathering  to  itself  new  glories, 
and  proving  the  herald  and  morning-star  of  a  brighter 
and  greater  era.  Under  its  inspiring  influences  the 
western  nations  were  emerging  from  the  gloom  and 
ignorance  in  which  they  had  be6n  enshrouded,  and  were 
feeling  the  throbs  of  new  heroic  impulses. 

Among  the  Christian  nations  thus  awakening  Portugal 
was  taking  the  lead.  Facing  the  Atlantic,  it  was  ever 
looking  over  the  mid  waste  of  waters,  picturing  the  pos- 
sible beyond  on  the  blank  expanse,  and  rearing  a  hardy 
race  of  navigators  all  unconscious  of  the  great  mission 

that  was  yet  to  be  theirs.    Southward,  too,  their  thoughts 

19 


20 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


were  ever  turning,  following  their  soldiers  as  they  fought 
against  the  Moors  and  planted  their  most  Christian  flag 
along  the  entire  coast-line  of  Morocco.  Echoes  there 
were  which  came  to  them  of  the  vast  wealth  of  Inner 
Africa,  of  the  powder  of  Prester  John  and  the  riches  of 
far  Cathay,  till  the  imaginations  of  kings,  soldiers,  mer- 
chants, and  priests  w^ere  alike  inflamed  with  a  desire  to 
share  them.  With  it  all  the  vagviest  ideas  were  current 
as  to  the  extent  of  the  African  continent.  Tlie  northern 
coast -line  was  w^ell  enough  known,  but  at  the  beginning 
of  the  fifteenth  century  no  one  had  ventured  southw^ard 
beyond  the  western  termination  of  the  Atlas  Mountains, 
and  how  much  further  south  the  land  extended  no  one 
pretended  to  know.  This  ignorance,  however,-  did  not 
last  through  the  century. 

Under  its  energetic  and  far-seeing  kings,  John  and 
Immanuel,  Portugal  set  itself  to  penetrate  behind  the 
veil  and  attain  the  honour  and  the  more  substantial 
rewards  secured,  as  was  believed,  to  those  who  should 
first  reach  the  sources  of  the  gold  supply  of  Inner  Africa, 
the  capital  of  Prester  John,  or  the  countries  of  the  Far 
East. 

Extensive  voyages  were  then  unthought  of.  Sailing 
was  very  much  a  matter  of  feeling  one's  way  along  the 
shore.  Hence  it  was  not  by  any  one  extensive  voyage, 
but  by  many  successive  expeditions,  that  the  shore-line 
of  Africa  was  gradually  mapped  out.  In  this  way  greater 
courage,  confidence,  experience,  and  skill  were  gained  with 
each  successful  addition  to  the  limits  of  the  known,  and 
a  spirit  of  emulation  was  aroused  which  irresistibly  car- 
ried the  new  knight  errants  of  commerce  and  science 
further  and  further  south  in  search  of  the  promised 
land. 


OPENING  UP  THE  WAY  TO  THE  NIGER. 


21 


In  1433  Cape  Bojador  was  reached  by  Gilianez,  and 
the  Island  of  Arguin  by  Nuno  Tristan  ten  years  later. 
So  far  deserts  and  burning  suns,  a  repellent  coast- line 
and  a  meagre  population  of  wild  nomads,  were  what 
they  found — no  news  of  Prester  John,  no  evidence  of 
the  vast  riches  they  had  taught  themselves  to  expect. 
But  nothing  was  allowed  to  damp  their  eager  spiiit  or 
quash  their  sanguine  expectations. 

In  1446  Fernandez  passed  Cape  Verd,  and  in  the 
following  year  the  feitile  region  of  Senegambia  was 
reached  by  Lancelot. 

It  now  seemed  as  if  the  bold  adventurers  were  to 
have  their  reward.  They  had  at  last  arrived  at  a  fertile 
region  abounding  in  gold  and  ivory,  and,  better  still, 
they  began  to  hear  of  a  great  kingdom  named  Melli, 
not  then  absorbed  in  the  rapidly  rising  empu-e  of 
Songhay.  This,  they  thought,  must  be  the  country 
of  Prester  John. 

These  important  discoveries,  and  all  the  glowing  hopes 
they  developed,  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  course  of 
Portuguese  discovery.  With  renewed  enterprise  and 
persistence  adventurous  navigators  pursued  the  path  of 
exploration.  By  147 1  they  had  reached  the  Gold  Coast, 
and  before  the  close  of  the  century  the  Cape  had  been 
rounded,  and,  under  the  leadership  of  Almeida  and 
Albuquerque,  some  of  their  magnificent  dreams  of 
wealth  and  power  realised  in  the  foundation  of  their 
Indian  Empire. 

But  though  the  Portuguese  had  thus  revealed  to  the 
world  the  Senegal  and  the  Gambia,  and  apparently 
thrown  open  a  door  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Niger  basin, 
nothing  came  of  it.  From  the  writings  of  De  Barros  we 
gather  that  embassies  from  the  King  of  Portugal  were 


22 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


despatched  to  the  rulers  of  Melli  and  Mosi,  and  even, 
it  is  said,  to  that  of  Songhay.  Of  these  missions,  how- 
ever, nothing  more  has  come  down  to  us.  They  added 
seemingly  nothing  to  our  knowledge  of  the  interior. 
Factories  were  established  along  the  coast,  and  even 
some  distance  up  the  rivers  Senegal  and  Gambia,  but 
the  thirst  for  gold  and  slaves  evidently  swamped  all 
other  considerations  with  the  agents  in  charge,  for  not 
an  iota  of  information  do  we  gather  from  them — or  at 
least  none  is  now  on  record — of  the  geography  of  the 
far  interior. 

The  magnificent  enterprise  of  Portugal  in  the  fields 
of  maritime  discovery  was  destined  to  be  of  the  most 
transient  character.  Evil  days  speedily  came  upon  it, 
and  between  Philip  II.  of  Spain  on  land  and  the  Dutch 
at  sea,  it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  it  would  lose  its  place 
among  the  independent  nations  of  Europe. 

From  the  time  of  its  conquest  by  Spain  its  course  was 
backward,  and  its  history  became  a  record  of  shrinking 
empire  and  gradual  loss  of  all  spirit  that  tends  to  national 
greatness  and  progress.  As  far  as  we  are  concerned  the 
work  of  the  Portuguese  ended  with  the  exploration  of 
the  Senegambian  Coast,  the  discovery  of  the  rivers  Senegal 
and  Gambia — then  thought  to  be  branches  of  the  Niger 
— and  the  revelation  to  Europe  of  the  future  route  to 
the  Niger  and  Timbuktu. 

The  work  of  exploration  so  well  begun,  so  magnifi- 
cently carried  on,  though  so  disastrously  closed,  began 
now  to  fall  into  other  hands.  Contemporaneously 
with  the  dwindling  of  the  Portuguese  into  the  back- 
ground the  English  came  to  the  front.  It  was  then  the 
Elizabethan  period,  that  era  of  glorious  memory,  the 
dawn  of  Greater  Britain.    Bold  mariners,  the  like  the 


OPENING  UP  THE  WAY  TO  THE  NIGER.  23 


world  has  never  seen,  sprang  up  on  all  sides,  and  made 
England  the  mistress  of  the  seas.  A  spirit  of  com- 
mercial enterprise  and  adventurous  daiing  was  deve- 
loped which  nothing  could  dismay,  nothing  withstand. 
Before  the  close  of  that  eventful  period  Drake  had  led 
his  countrjonen  to  the  rich  spoil  of  the  Spanish  Main, 
Raleigh  had  laid  the  foundation  of  English  rule  in  North 
America,  Baffin  and  Hudson  had  cleared  the  way  for 
Arctic  exploration,  and  Davis  had  not  only  started  the 
series  of  heroic  expeditions  connected  with  the  North- 
west Passage,  but  had  led  Enghsh  ships  to  the  Indian 
Seas. 

With  these,  however,  we  have  nothing  to  do.  Of 
more  importance  is  it  to  us  to  note  that  Hawkins  had 
made  his  first  voyage  to  the  West  African  Coast,  and 
inaugurated  that  horrid  traffic  in  human  flesh  and  blood 
which  has  left  such  an  indelible  stain  on  British 
commerce. 

But  it  was  not  only  the  slave  trade  which  drew  the 
attention  of  English  merchants  to  Africa.  To  them  as 
to  the  Portuguese  the  Niger  and  Timbuktu  were  words 
to  conjure  with.  Both  were  believed  to  be  veritable 
mines  of  wealth.  To  the  imagination  of  the  time  the 
one  was  pictured  as  flowing  over  golden  sands,  the  other 
as  almost  paved  with  the  precious  metal.  It  was  believed 
that  the  Senegal  and  the  Gambia  constituted  the  Niger 
mouths,  and  accordingly  that  to  ascend  either  river 
would  bring  the  traveller  direct  to  the  source  of  so  much 
wealth.  To  accomplish  this  now  became  the  dream  of 
nations,  so  that  it  may  well  be  said  that  the  Niger 
and  its  fancied  treasures  were  the  magnet  which  drew 
men  on  to  the  exploration  of  the  interior  of  the  Dark 
Continent. 


24 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


It  had  been  the  mission  of  Portugal  to  draw  a  girdle 
round  Africa ;  it  was  now  to  be  the  role  of  Britain  to 
take  up  the  work  and  penetrate  inland  with  more  last- 
ing results  than  had  followed  Portuguese  embassies  and 
missionary  and  commercial  enterprises. 

The  year  1618  saw  the  commencement  of  this  noble 
work.  A  company  was  formed  to  explore  the  Gambia, 
with  the  object  of  reaching  the  rich  region  of  the 
Niger. 


G.Fhitip  i  Sen 


The  honour  of  being  Britain's  pioneer  in  African 
exploration  fell  to  the  lot  of  one  Bichard  Thompson, 
described  as  being  a  man  of  spirit  and  enterprise.  He 
left  England  in  the  Catherine,  of  120  tons,  with  a  cargo 
worth  nearly  ;^20oo,  and  reached  the  Gambia  towards 
the  end  of  the  year.  Here  he  found  the  Portuguese 
still  in  power,  ruling  the  nations  with  grinding  tyranny, 
though  rapidly  sinking  into  the  commercial  and  national 


OPENING  UP  THE  WAY  TO  THE  NIGER. 


25 


apathy  which  has  made  them  a  byword  in  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

Thompson's  enterprise,  like  so  many  which  succeeded 
it,  was  doomed  to  suffer  sad  disaster.    First  the  Portu- 


guese  fell  upon  and  massacred  a  large  part  of  the  crew 
while  its  captain  was  exploring  up  the  river.  Undis-. 
mayed  he  stuck  to  his  post,  and  demanded  reinforce- 
ments and  supplies.    His  employers  were  of  like  metal 


26 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


to  himself,  and  promptly  sent  another  vessel  to  his 
assistance.  The  climate  proved  as  formidable  an  enemy 
as  the  Portuguese,  and  most  of  the  crew  of  the  new  ship 
succumbed  to  the  deadly  miasma. 

Still  another  vessel  was  fitted  out,  its  owners  un- 
daunted by  loss  of  men  and  goods,  and  sanguine  as 
ever  of  the  glorious  prize  to  be  achieved. 

This  time  one  Richard  Jobson  took  command.  He 
arrived  in  the  Gambia  in  1620,  only  to  hear  of  a  new 
calamity  and  a  new  and  even  more  paralysing  source  of 
danger — Thompson's  men  had  mutinied  and  murdered 
him.  Portuguese  hostility,  a  deadly  climate,  and  mutiny 
in  the  camp  w^ere  all  arrayed  against  the  hoped  for  ad- 
vance into  the  country.  But  those  old  mariners  were 
made  of  stern  unyielding  stuff,  which  only  death  itself 
could  break,  and  undismayed  Jobson  defied  all  dangers 
and  started  on  his  quest.  With  each  succeeding  mile 
new  difiiculties  beset  the  gallant  band.  No  pilots  could 
be  got  to  show  the  way.  For  a  time  this  proved  no 
serious  obstacle.  Soon,  however,  the  current  grew 
stronger,  and  threatened  to  drive  them  back.  They  were 
in  hourly  peril  from  hidden  rocks,  and  falls  and  rapids 
raised  a  foaming  barrier  to  further  progress.  Sand- 
banks there  were,  too,  on  which  they  grounded,  and 
crocodiles  had  to  be  braved  in  getting  clear  of  them, 
while  sea-horses  snorted  angrily  and  threatened  to 
swamp  the  boats.  Unprovided  with  the  mosquito-nets 
of  modern  times,  their  days  of  overpowering  fatigue 
under  a  melting  sun  were  followed  by  nights  of  mad- 
dening torture  under  the  stings  of  mp^ad  mosquitoes 
and  sandflies.  But  everything  was  new  and  wonderful 
to  them.  They  were  like  children  bursting  into  a  new 
world  full  of  undreamed  of  marvels,  a  veritable  land 


OPENING  UP  THE  WAY  TO  THE  NIGER. 


27 


of  enchantment.  The  voracious  crocodiles  and  the 
monstrous  hippos  in  the  river,  elephants  in  troops 
crashing  irresistibly  through  the  dense  forest,  leopards 
watching  cat-like  for  their  prey,  and  lions  disturbing 
vthe  silence  of  night  with  their  awe-inspiring  roars, 
were  some  of  the  elements  of  this  new  wonderland. 
There,  too,  were  monkeys  among  the  trees  —  their 
gambols  a  never  failing  source  of  delight ;  and  ba- 
boons trooping  through  the  underbush  in  enormous 
herds,  filling  the  air  with  strange  outcries,  except  when 
"  one  great  voice  would  exalt  itself,  and  the  rest  were 
hushed." 

Not  less  astonishing  was  the  insect  life  of  the  tropic 
forest — the  fireflies  in  myriad  numbers  flashing  with 
iridescent  colours  in  the  gloom  of  night,  the  crickets 
raising  their  deafening  chorus,  the  strange  beetles,  and 
the  many-coloured  butterflies. 

How  marvellous,  too,  must  the  tropic  foliage  have  ap- 
peared to  the  explorers,  fresh  as  they  were  from  England. 
The  immense  grasses,  the  almost  impenetrable  under- 
growth, the  beauties  of  the  palm  tribe,  the  majesty  of 
the  silk-cotton  tree.  Last,  not  least,  how  passing  strange 
the  appearance  of  the  natives,  their  comparative  absence 
of  dress,  their  simple  habits  and  rudimentary  ideas  about 
all  things  under  heaven.  The  modern  traveller,  hlase  with 
the  rich  heritage  of  a  hundred  predecessors,  cannot  but 
envy  the  sensations  of  such  an  .one  as  Jobson  on  seeing 
for  the  first  time  all  the  marvels,  beauties,  and  novelties 
of  Africa. 

But  while  we  vainly  try  to  realise  the  feelings  in- 
spired in  the  mind  of  this  pioneer,  we  are  not  oblivious 
of  the  terrible  earnestness  and  determination,  the  in- 
domitable courage  and  dogged  perseverance  of  the  man. 


28 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


The  very  devil  himself  has  no  terrors  for  Jobson. 
Hearing  certain  remarkable  sounds,  and  being  told 
by  the  natives  that  it  is  the  voice  of  the  devil,  the 
intrepid  sailor  seizes  his  gun  and  rushes  forth  to  do 
battle  with  his  Satanic  Majesty,  who,  on  our  hero's 
appearance,  changes  his  terrible  roars  into  notes  of 
terror,  and  shows  himself  as  a  huge  negro  grovelling  in 
the  dust  in  an  agony  of  fear. 

On  the  26th  Januaiy  162 1,  Jobson  had  reached  a 
place  called  Tenda,  where  he  heard  of  a  city  four  months' 
journey  into  the  interior,  the  roofs  of  which  were  covered 
with  gold.  Unhappily,  however  much  his  appetite 
might  be  whetted  by  such  wonderful  stories,  it  had  to 
remain  unsatisfied.  The  dry  season  soon  began  to 
tell  upon  the  volume  of  water  in  the  river,  making 
advance  daily  more  difiicult,  till  within  a  few  days  of 
a  town  called  Tombaconda,  some  300  miles  from  the 
sea,  he  was  compelled  to  desist  from  further  attempts, 
although  he  believed  that  Tombaconda  was  Timbuktu 
itself,  in  reality  distant  about  1000  miles.  On  the  loth 
February  he  commenced  his  return,  hoping  to  go  back 
and  complete  his  w^ork  with  the  rising  of  the  waters,  a 
project  he  however  never  executed. 

Quarrels  broke  out  between  the  merchants  on  the 
river  and  the  Company,  and  the  enterprise  for  the  time 
being  collapsed. 

It  was  not  till  nearly  a  century  later  that  a  new  attempt 
was  made  to  prosecute  the  task  of  reaching  the  Niger 
and  the  wealth  of  Inner  Africa.  In  1720,  the  Duke  of 
Chandos,  acting  as  chairman  of  the  African  Company, 
instigated  a  new  expedition  by  way  of  the  Gambia  to 
the  land  oi  promise. 

This  time  the  enterprise  was  placed  under  the  leader- 


OPENING  UP  THE  WAY  TO  THE  NIGER. 


29 


ship  of  one  Captain  Bartholomew  Stibbs,  who  left  Eng- 
land in  1723,  and  arrived  in  the  Gambia  in  October  of 
that  year.  His  experiences  were  identical  with  those 
of  Jobson,  though  he  did  not  reach  the  latter's  highest 
point.  Between  them,  however,  it  was  made  quite  clear 
that  the  Gambia  had  no  connection  with  the  Niger,  and 
as  little  with  the  Senegal 

With  Stibbs  ended  the  English  commercial  attempts 
to  open  up  the  way  to  the  interior  of  Africa. 

The  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  its  geography 
amounted  to  the  exploration  of  the  navigable  part  of  the 
Gambia,  and  the  determination  of  the  fact  that  it  had  no 
connection  with  the  Niger. 

The  French  meanwhile  were  doing  for  the  Senegal 
what  the  British  were  accomplishing  in  the  sister  river. 
Six  years  after  Thompson  had  entered  the  latter,  the 
French  had  established  themselves  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Senegal  and  founded  the  town  of  St.  Louis.  Their  first 
exploring  trip  was  made  in  1637,  when  they  penetrated 
some  distance  along  the  navigable  part  of  the  river. 

More  important,  however,  was  the  expedition  in  1697 
of  one  Sieur  Brue,  director-general  of  the  French  African 
Company,  which  achieved  considerable  success.  This 
expedition  was  backed  up  by  a  second  voyage  up  the  river 
two  years  later,  when  the  fort  of  St.  Joseph  was  founded, 
and  trade  opened  with  merchants  from  Timbuktu. 

Sieur  Bnie's  experiences  were  in  every  respect  similar 
to  those  of  Jobson  and  Stibbs  on  the  Gambia,  though 
commercially  more  foi-tunate,  inasmuch  as  he  had  to  do 
with  more  advanced  races,  and  contrived  to  reach  the 
frontiers  of  a  rich  gold-bearing  district  (Bambuk)  on  the 
one  hand,  and  of  an  equally  profitable  gum  region  on 
the  other. 


30 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


He  also  heard  much  of  the  Niger  and  Timbuktu,  and 
seemingly  satisfied  himself  that  the  Senegal  had  no  con- 
nection with  the  famous  river  of  the  interior,  and  that 
the  latter  flowed  east,  not  west,  as  it  was  the  tendency 
of  his  day  to  beheve,  since  we  find  the  French  maps  of 
the  eighteenth  century  showing  the  Niger  flowing  to- 
wards the  interior  and  an  uncertain  bourne. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


PREPARING  FOR  PARK  :   THE  AFRICAN 
ASSOCIATION. 

The  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  marks  the 
commencement  of  the  modern  period  of  African  explo- 
ration. So  far  all  African  enterprises  had  been  insti- 
gated by  governments  for  national  aggrandisement,  or 
by  merchants  with  commercial  objects  in  view.  Early 
Portuguese  discovery  was  a  type  of  the  one ;  the  British 
expedition  to  the  Gambia  an  example  of  the  other.  But 
now  the  time  had  come  when,  dissociated  from  both, 
African  exploration  was  to  start  forth  on  a  new  line  of 
unselfish  research,  and  accomplish  what  governments  and 
commercial  communities  had  failed  in  doing. 

To  the  African  Association  belongs  the  honour  of 
inaugurating  this  new  and  more  glorious  era.  Lord 
Rawdon,  afterwards  Marquis  of  Hastings,  Sir  Joseph 
Banks,  the  Bishop  of  Landaff,  Mr.  Beaufoy,  and  Mr. 
Stuart,  were  the  first  managers  of  this  Association, 
whose  objects  were  the  promotion  of  discovery  in  Africa, 
and  the  spread  of  information,  commercial,  political,  and 
scientific,  regarding  the  still  sadly  unknown  continent. 

At  first  the  Association  devoted  their  attention  to 
Northern  Africa,  and  in  a  short  time  were  instrumental 
in  gathering  together  much  reliable  and  valuable  infor- 
mation as  to  the  Mohammedan  states  of  that  region. 

31 


32 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Their  inquii-ies,  however,  were  not  to  be  bounded  by 
the  Sahara  any  more  than  the  first  onrush  of  the 
Mohammedan  torrent. 

The  routes  of  the  large  caravans  to  the  Sudan  were 
made  a  subject  of  investigation,  and  the  Arab  writers 
laid  under  contribution  to  satisfy  the  demand  for  more 
light. 

To  the  Niger  especially  their  inquiries  were  turned, 
in  the  hope  of  solving  the  mystery  of  its  true  position 
and  its  course.  Where  did  it  commence  and  where 
did  it  end  1  was  the  double  problem  which  puzzled  the 
eighteenth  century  geographers  more  even  than  the 
question  of  the  source  of  the  Nile. 

Not  content  with  inquiries  which  only  landed  them  in 
perplexities  and  endless  discussion,  they  resolved  to  send 
out  explorers.  To  such  they  offered  no  monetary  in- 
ducements, no  hope  of  tangible  reward.  The  honour 
and  glory  of  discovery  were  to  be  their  prize :  the 
Association  at  the  same  time  undei-taking,  for  their 
part,  to  defray  the  traveller's  expenses. 

The  inducements  offered  were  quite  sufiicient.  Ad- 
mirably qualified  men  presented  themselves  in  greater 
numbers  than  were  needed,  so  that  the  chief  difficulty 
of  the  Association  was  to  choose  rather  than  to  seek. 

The  first  of  the  heroic  band  of  African  pioneers  was 
Ledyard,  already  a  traveller  of  the  most  varied  ex- 
perience. His  mission  was  to  cross  the  African  Con- 
tinent from  the  Nile  to  the  Atlantic.  At  the  threshold 
of  his  enterprise  he  perished  of  fever  in  1788. 

Mr.  Lucas  was  the  next  to  take  up  the  work.  His 
qualifications  were  an  intimate  knowledge  of  Moorish 
life  and  language,  gathered  first  as  a  slave  in  Morocco, 
then  as  British  Vice-Consul  to  that  empire.    The  work 


PREPARING  FOR  PARK. 


33 


marked  out  for  him  was  to  start  from  Tripoli  and  cross 
the  Sahara  to  the  Sudan.  In  this  he  failed.  A  revolt 
of  Arab  tribes  barred  the  way,  and  Mr.  Lucas  abandoned 
the  enterprise,  bringing  back  with  him  only  additional 
particulars  regarding  the  interior,  which  he  had  gathered 
from  native  merchants. 

More  successful  in  the  earlier  part  of  a  succeeding 
expedition  was  Horneman  (1789),  who  undoubtedly 
crossed  the  deseit,  but  crossed  it  only  to  disappear  for 
ever. 

Clearly  Africa  was  a  hard  nut  to  crack,  and  dangerous 
to  whomsoever  should  essay  it. 

Foiled  in  their  attempts  to  reach  the  goal  of  their 
desires  from  the  north,  the  African  Association  next 
turned  to  West  Africa  for  a  possible  opening  to  the 
interior.  Once  more  the  Gambia  was  chosen  as  the 
most  direct  and  feasible  route. 

In  Major  Houghton  they  seemed  to  have  got  the 
right  man  for  the  work.  As  Consul  at  Morocco  he 
had  gained  an  acquaintance  with  the  Mooi-s  and  their 
language,  and  at  Goree,  then  in  British  hands,  he  had 
come  in  contact  with  the  West  African  negi-o,  and 
learned  the  conditions  of  life  and  travel  obtaining  in 
the  Gambia  region. 

The  new  attempt  was  made  in  1791.  Unlike  Jobson 
and  Stibbs,  the  adventurous  exploier  did  not  proceed 
by  boat  and  with  a  large  European  party,  but  by  land, 
single-handed,  and  attended  by  the  most  modest  of  re- 
tinues. At  first  all  went  well ;  no  difiiculties  or  troubles 
retarded  his  progress.  Generally  following  the  course 
of  the  river  he  safely  reached  Medina,  the  capital  of 
Wuli,  and  was  hospitably  received  by  the  king  of  the 
place.     Less  kind  were  the  elements.     A  fire  which 

c 


34 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIG^JR. 


reduced  the  town  to  ashes  deprived  him  of  much  of 
his  goods.  From  Medina  Houghton's  route  diverged 
from  the  Gambia,  passing  west  to  the  Falem^,  a 
southern  tributary  of  the  Senegal,  and  frontier  line  of 
the  gold-bearing  region  of  Bambuk.  Here  also  he  was 
received  with  hospitality,  and  was  sent  on  his  way 
through  Bambuk  rejoicing.  Not  to  rejoice  long,  how- 
ever. The  last  communication  received  from  him  con- 
tained these  graphic  lines :  "  Major  Houghton's  com- 
I^liments  to  Dr.  Laidley ;  is  in  good  health,  on  his  way 
to  Timbuktu ;  robbed  of  all  his  goods  by  Fenda  Bukar's 
son."  No  despair  in  these  words,  whatever  calamities 
might  have  befallen  the  writer ;  no  halting  in  the  resolu- 
tion to  achieve  his  object — only  the  one  unhesitating 
determination  to  go  forward.  But  it  was  to  go  forward 
to  die.  In  spite  of  Fenda  Bukar's  son  he  seems  still  to 
have  possessed  sufficient  means  to  rouse  the  unscrupulous 
cupidity  of  some  Moors.  Lured  on  by  these  wretches  he 
was  led  into  the  desert,  where  he  was  stripped  of  every- 
thing and  left  to  a  horrible  death. 

It  would  seem  that  the  disastrous  ending  of  these 
various  expeditions  had  thrown  a  damper  upon  the 
eagerness  of  volunteers  to  continue  the  work,  for  we 
now  find  the  African  Association  offering  the  induce- 
ment of  a  liberal  recompense  to  whomsoever  would  take 
up  the  task  broken  off  by  Houghton's  death. 

Little  wonder  if  qualified  men  hesitated  to  offer  them- 
selves. African  fevers  had  a  terror  then  which  they  no 
longer  possess.  The  continent  was  practically  unknown, 
and  to  the  imagination,  with  no  facts  to  act  as  correctives, 
everything  wore  a  terrible  aspect.  Cannibalism,  general 
bloodthirstiness  and  ferocity,  a  love  of  plunder,  and  all 
manner  of  horrible  practices,  were  associated  with  the 


PREPAEING  FOR  PARK. 


35 


name  of  negro.  Death  by  thirst  or  starvation  was 
thought  likely  to  be  the  lot  of  those  who  escaped  the 
miasma  of  the  land  or  the  murderous  spear  of  the 
native.  Brave  indeed  would  be  the  man  who  should 
face  such  an  accumulation  of  vaguely  discerned  and 
mightily  exaggerated  horrors. 

Nevertheless  the  African  Association  had  not  long 
to  wait.  At  this  crisis  in  their  affairs  the  man  for 
the  work  was  forthcoming,  one  destined  to  crown  their 
hopes  with  a  triumphant  success,  to  inaugurate  a  more 
brilliant  future  for  African  travel,  and  give  it  such  an 
impetus  as  would  carry  it  on  to  a  glorious  issue.  This 
was  Mungo  Park. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MUNGO  PARK. 

To  continue  our  narrative  of  exploration  we  must  now 
Isave  the  sweltering  suns  and  miasmatic  atmosphere  of 
Western  Africa  for  the  temperate  climate  and  bracing 
breezy  hillsides  of  southern  Scotland — turning  from  the 
river  dear  to  the  geographer  to  the  stream  loved  of  the 
poet — from  the  Niger  to  the  Yarrow. 

The  man  whose  mission  it  was  to  break  through 
the  isolating  barriers  reared  by  savagery  and  a  deadly 
climate  between  the  land  of  the  negro  and  all  out- 
side humanising  influences,  must  needs  have  an  heroic 
cradle,  and  come  of  an  heroic  race.  His  must  be  the 
nurture  of  the  Spartan,  physically  equipping  him  to 
battle  with  hardship  and  privation — his  the  education 
and  upbringing  which  tend  to  all  forms  of  noble  discon- 
tent and  deeds  of  high  emprise. 

Such  a  cradle  and  such  a  race  were  Ettrickdale  and 

its  peasantry.    Theirs  was  the  life  of  honest  toil  and 

constant  self-restraint,  and  theii-s  the  direct  and  indii^ect 

education  which  in  the  right  man  develops  romantic 

instincts,  and  weds  to  a  perfervid  imagination  stern 

religious  convictions,  intense  practicality,  and  prosaic 

tenacity  of   purpose.     Theirs  were  the  surroundings 

fitted  alike  to  mould  the  poet  or  the  hero — him  who 

should  sing  of  the  chivalry  of  the  past,  or  him  who 

36 


MUNGO  PARK. 


'37 


should  be  of  the  chivalry  of  the  present,  in  whatever 
field  is  scope  for  praiseworthy  ambition  and  highest 
aspiration — clear-sighted  vision  and  undaunted  courage, 
dogged  persistence  and  untiring  perseverance,  fortitude 
under  reverses,  and  physical  powers  to  endure  privation. 

This,-  then,  was  the  heritage  which  Ettrickdale  had 
to  offer  to  her  sons ;  and  this,  as  one  of  them,  the  heri- 


BIRTHPLACE  OF  MUNGO  PARK. 

tage  of  Mungo  Park,  the  first  of  the  knight  errantry 
of  Africa. 

Of  the  early  life  of  him  who  was  destined  to  partially 
unveil  the  face  of  Africa  we  know  but  little,  though 
that  little  is  sufficiently  significant  and  satisfactory. 

Mungo  Park  was  born  on  the  loth  September  1771  in 
the  cottage  of  Foulshiels,  some  four  and  a  half  miles  from 
Selkirk.    Foulshiels  stands  in  the  very  centre  of  the  love- 


38 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


liest  scenery  of  the  glen  of  Yarrow,  facing  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  valley  the  stately  tower  of  Newark.  East- 
ward it  commands  a  view  over  the  woods  and  groves 
and  "  birchen  bowers  "  of  the  widening  dale  to  where 
it  merges  in  the  valley  of  the  Ettrick  near  Selkirk. 
Westward  it  fronts  a  magnificent  panorama  of  hill  and 
dale,  through  which  curves  the  Yarrow  in  broken  gleam- 
ing reaches,  from  the  wild  romantic  scenery  of  its  loch 
and  mountain  sources.  To  front  and  rear  rise  stately 
hills,  their  bases  separated  and  washed  by  the  rushing 
streams,  their  lower  slopes  clad  with  oak  and  fir,  their 
upper  with  grass  and  heather,  over  which  the  winds 
sweep  unopposed. 

But  if  the  surroundings  of  Park's  birthplace  were 
grand,  the  cottage,  of  which  the  ruins  still  exist,  was 
humble  in  the  extreme.  It  was  neither  better  nor 
worse  than  might  be  tenanted  by  shepherds  of  the  pre- 
sent day  in  out-of-the-way  places,  being  built  substan- 
tially of  whinstone  and  lime,  and  containing  at  the  most 
three  apartments.  The  building  presents  not  a  trace  of 
ornament,  not  a  relieving  cornice,  thus  fitly  expressing 
the  character  of  its  occupants,  their  extreme  practicality, 
their  plain  honest  soundness  and  indifference  to  all 
external  graces.  From  such  a  cottage  sprang  a  Burns, 
and  later  on  a  Carlyle. 

Mungo  was  the  seventh  child  of  a  family  of  thirteen, 
of  whom,  however,  only  eight  reached  the  age  of  maturity. 
By  unremitting  care  and  hard  work  his  father  had  raised 
himself  to  the  position  of  a  small  farmer — how  small  his 
cottage  sufficiently  shows.  In  him,  however,  we  have 
undoubtedly  one  of  that  type  of  Scottish  fathers  who 
will  pinch  his  own  body  and  double  the  slavery  of  his 
life  in  order  that  his  children  may  receive  a  better 


MUNGO  PARK. 


39 


education  than  he  himself  had,  and  that  their  minds  at 
least  may  not  be  starved  and  stunted.  As  Park's  first 
biographer  puts  it,  writing  in  1816,  "The  attention 
of  the  Scottish  farmers  and  peasantry  to  the  early  in- 
struction of  their  children  is  strongly  exemplified  in  the 
history  of  Park's  family.  The  diffusion  of  knowledge 
among  the  natives  of  that  part  of  the  kingdom  and  their 
general  intelligence  must  be  admitted  by  every  unpre- 
judiced observer ;  nor  is  there  any  country  in  which 
the  effects  of  education  are  so  conspicuous  in  promoting 
industry  and  good  conduct,  and  in  producing  useful 
and  respectable  men  of  the  inferior  and  middle  classes 
admirably  fitted  for  all  the  important  offices  of  comjnon 
life." 

It  would  seem  that  there  was  no  school  near  enough 
to  Foulshiels  for  the  Park  children  in  the  earlier  years 
of  their  life  to  be  able  to  attend,  since  we  find  a  resident 
teacher  engaged  to  impart  the  necessary  rudiments  of 
education. 

With  maturer  years  Mungo  was  transferred  to  the 
Selkirk  Grammar  School,  to  which  he  probably  walked 
each  morning. 

From  this  time  we  begin  to  get  glimpses  of  his  peculiar 
personality  and  character.  It  does  not  appear  that  he 
showed  any  special  talent  while  at  school,  though  con- 
stant in  his  attendance,  and  studious  in  application. 
We  gather  that  he  was  dreamy  and  reserved,  a  great 
reader,  a  lover  of  poetry,  and  passionately  fond  of  the 
quaint  lore  and  simple  minstrelsy  so  markedly  associated 
with  the  border  counties  of  Scotland. 

His,  clearly,  was  not  the  temperament  which  would 
receive  its  guiding  impulses  from  the  routine  work  of 
school  or  the  precepts  and  instruction  of  schoolmasters. 


40 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Such  conventional  influences  would  never  have  led  him 
to  Africa.  His  inspirations  were  derived  from  the  bal- 
lads that  were  sung  and  the  tales  that  were  told  by 
every  country  fireside.  For  him  the  rushing  Yarrow, 
Newark's  ruined  towers,  the  spreading  field,  the  swelling 
hillside,  and  the  mountain  top  were  teachers,  each  with 
a  tale  to  tell  of  bold  adventure  or  of  deadly  strife. 

The  whole  country  was  redolent  with  the  romance  of 
the  half-foi'gotten  past,  with  a  hvmdred  memories  dear 
to  a  patriotic  heart.  In  all  around  him  there  was  some- 
thing to  throw  a  glamour  over  his  young  eager  mind, 
something  to  fire  his  imagination  and  arouse  eager 
longings  to  be  up  and  doing  deeds  undefined,  yet  ever 
great  and  noble.  From  the  stately  castle,  which  now 
looked  down  on  him  in  melancholy  ruined  majesty, 
bi-ave  knights  of  bygone  days  had  ridden  forth  to  fight 
for  king  and  country  or  for  love.  Their  day  was  past, 
but  might  not  he  in  other  guise  emerge  from  his  lowly 
cottage,  and  with  other  weapons  win  his  golden  spurs. 

In  what  way  all  these  vague  ambitions  and  this  spiri- 
tual fermentation  w^as  to  end  there  was  but  small  indi- 
cation. It  is  given  only  to  the  few  to  realise  in  after 
life  the  romantic  dreams  of  their  youth. 

At  first  it  seems  Mungo  was  destined  by  his  father  for 
the  ministry,  but  he  himself  preferred  medicine,  to  which 
choice  no  objection  appears  to  have  been  made. 

To  acquire  the  rudiments  of  his  medical  education, 
when  fifteen  years  of  age  he  was  placed,  as  was  the 
custom  of  the  time,  as  apprentice  to  Dr.  Thomas  Ander- 
son, a  surgeon  in  Selkirk,  a  gentleman  whose  descendants 
still  practise  the  healing  art  in  the  same  town.  For 
three  years  he  remained  with  the  Doctor,  not  only 
acquiring  a  knowledge  of  medicine,  but  still  further 


MUNGO  PAKK. 


41 


grounding  himself  in  the  classics  and  other  branches  of 
education  at  the  Grammar  School. 

Further  than  this  we  know  nothing  of  his  life  in  the 
Anderson  family,  though  that  his  time  was  agreeably 
spent  we  may  deduce  from  the  fact  that,  as  we  shall  see 
later  on,  he  some  years  after  married  Dr.  Anderson's 
eldest  daughter. 

In  the  year  1789  Park  left  Selkirk  for  the  University 
of  Edinburgh  to  complete  his  medical  studies.  Three 
successive  sessions  seems  to  have  been  all  that  was 
necessary  to  qualify  in  these  days. 

We  are  told  that  he  was  an  ardent  student,  and  dis- 
tinguished among  his  fellows.  Botany  was  his  favourite 
subject,  this  fact  being  doubtless  largely  due  to  the 
inspiring  influence  of  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  James 
Dickson,  who  from  being  a  gardener  had  raised  himself 
by  his  own  exertions  to  be  no  common  botanist  and  the 
author  of  some  valuable  and  important  works. 

It  was  while  still  a  medical  student  that  Park  came 
more  directly  in  contact  with  Dickson,  and  with  him  he 
went  a  botanical  tour  in  the  Highlands. 

Dickson  did  more  for  his  young  brother-in-law  than 
inspire  him  with  a  love  of  botany.  He  was  on  a  footing 
of  considerable  intimacy  with  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  one  of 
the  chief  managers  of  the  African  Association,  and  when 
Park  left  the  University  he  introduced  him  to  his  in- 
fluential friend,  and  so  brought  him  in  contact  with 
the  influences  which  were  to  make  Mungo  Park  the 
first  of  famous  African  travellers. 

But  the  time  was  not  yet.  Park  had  still  to  prepare 
himself  practically  for  his  great  mission  by  widening  his 
experience  of  life  and  travel — had  still  to  get  further 
bitten  with  the  fever  of  unrest.    Hence  in  1792  we  find 


42 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


liim  sailing  not  to  Africa,  but  to  the  East,  as  surgeon  in 
the  East  India  Company's  service. 

At  this  point  he  supphes  us  with  an  admirable  and 
characteristic  glimpse  of  himself  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
his  teacher  in  surgery  and  future  father-in-law.  Dr. 
Anderson  of  Selkirk.  The  letter  is  dated  London, 
23rd  January  1793,  and  the  following  is  an  interesting 
portion  : — 

"  I  have  now  got  upon  the  first  step  of  the  stair 
of  ambition.  Here's  a  figure  of  it.  (A  pen  and  ink 
sketch  is  here  given  of  a  flight  of  steps  with  a  man 
on  the  lowest.)  It  very  nearly  resembles  one  of 
Gordon's  traps  which  he  uses  in  the  library.  Now, 
if  I  should  run  up  the  stair,  you  see  the  conse- 
quence. I  must  either  be  mortified  by  seeing  I  can  get 
no  further,  or,  by  taking  an  airy  step,  knock  my  brains 
out  against  the  large  folio  of  some  succeeding  author. 
May  I  use  my  little  advantage  in  height  to  enable  me 
to  perform  the  office  of  a  watchman  to  the  rest  of  man- 
kind, and  call  to  them,  '  Take  care,  sirs  !  Don't  look  too 
high,  or  you'll  break  your  legs  on  that  stool.  Open  your 
eyes ;  you  are  going  straight  for  the  fire.' 

"  Passed  at  Surgeons'  Hall !  Associate  of  the  Linnean 
Society !  I  walked  three  or  four  times  backwards  and 
forwards  through  the  hall,  and  had  actually  begun  to 
count  the  panes  of  glass  in  the  large  window,  when 
the  bell  rang,  and  the  beadle  roared  out,  *  Mr.  Park  ! ' 
Macbeth 's  start  when  he  beheld  the  dagger  was  a  mere 
jest  compared  to  mine.  .  .  . 

"  I  have  purchased  Stewart's  Philosophy  to  amuse  me 
at  sea.  As  you  are  in  Edinburgh,  you  will  write  to  mo 
what  people  say  of  its  religious  character.    You  told  me 


MUNGO  PAEK. 


43 


in  Sandy's  (his  brother  Alexander  presumably,  who  was 
at  the  time  following  the  medical  course  he  himself  had 
just  completed)  letter  that  you  would  write  me  next 
week.  I  have  too  much  to  say,  and  therefore  must 
speak  by  halves. 

"The  melancholy,  who  complain  of  the  shortness  of 
human  Kfe,  and  the  voluptuous,  who  think  the  present 
only  their  own,  strive  to  fill  up  every  moment  with 
sensual  enjoyment;  but  the  man  whose  soul  has  been 
enlightened  by  his  Creator,  and  enabled,  though  dimly, 
to  discern  the  wonders  of  salvation,  will  look  upon  the 
joys  and  afflictions  of  this  life  as  equally  the  tokens  of 
Divine  love.  He  will  walk  through  the  world  as  one 
travelling  to  a  better  country,  looking  forward  with 
wonder  to  the  author  and  finisher  of  his  faith.  .  .  . 

"  P.S. — I  sail  in  about  a  month." 

It  was  in  this  buoyant  mood  of  the  young  conqueror- 
to-be  that  Park  looked  forth  upon  the  field  of  enterprise 
opened  up  to  him,  and  with  Stewart's  Philosophy  to 
amuse  him,  and  his  deeply  rooted  religious  convictions 
to  sustain  him,  left  England  for  the  Indies. 

As  showing  the  force  of  these  convictions,  we  may 
quote  another  letter,  written  to  Dr.  Anderson  when  on 
the  poiiit  of  departure  : — 

"  I  have  now  reached  that  height  that  I  can  behold 
the  tumults  of  nations  with  indifference,  confident  that 
the  reins  of  events  are  in  our  Father's  hands.  May  you 
and  I  (not  like  the  stubborn  mule,  but  like  the  weaning 
child)  obey  His  hand,  that  after  all  the  troubles  of  this 
dark  world  in  which  we  are  truly  strangers,  we  may, 
through  the  wonders  of  atonement,  reach  a  far  greater 
and  exceeding  weight  of  gloiy.    I  wish  you  may  be  able 


44  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


to  look  upon  the  day  of  your  departure  with  the  same 
resignation  that  I  do  on  mine.  My  hope  is  now  ap- 
proaching to  a  certainty.  If  I  be  deceived,  may  God 
alone  put  me  right,  for  I  would  rather  die  in  the  delu- 
sion than  wake  to  all  the  joys  of  earth.  May  the  Holy 
Spirit  dwell  for  ever  in  your  heart,  my  dear  friend,  and 
if  I  never  see  my  native  land  again,  may  I  rather  see 
the  green  sod  on  youv  grave  than  see  you  anything  but 
a  Christian." 

Nothing  noteworthy  marked  this  voyage  to  Sumatra, 
but  his  stay  there  was  by  no  means  wasted  time,  since 
it  afforded  him  an  excellent  opportunity  of  indulging 
his  scientific  tastes,  not  as  the  collector  merely,  but  also 
and  chiefly  as  the  accurate  observer. 

A  paper  in  the  Linnean  Transactions  on  eight  new 
fishes  from  Sumatra  is  sufficient  evidence  both  of  his 
industry  and  of  his  scientific  attainments. 

Park  returned  to  England  after  a  year's  absence,  and 
was  now  ripe  for  the  w^ork  in  store  for  him.  It  nowhere 
appears  that  so  far  he  had  even  once  thought  of  Africa 
as  a  possible  field  for  his  ambition  and  energies.  His 
natural  temperament,  however,  had  been  a  fertile  soil 
for  the  romantic  ideas  which  his  early  environment  had 
planted.  His  medical  education  had  further  fitted  him 
for  the  work  of  exploration,  besides  bringing  him  more 
sympathetically  in  contact  with  his  botanical  brother-in- 
law,  who  again  was  to  bring  him  within  the  sphere  of 
influence  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  and  through  him  of  the 
African  Association.  Following  these  various  determin- 
ing influences  came  the  first  taste  of  travel,  the  wider 
experience,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  good  and  evil  of 
the  wanderer's  life.     All  that  remained  wanting  was 


MUNGO  PARK. 


45 


the  golden  opportunity  to  prove  in  action  his  potential 
capacity  for  heroic  service  in  the  fields  of  geographical 
research. 

The  return  of  Park  from  his  first  voyage  was  the 
turning  point  in  his  career.  At  the  moment  there 
was  a  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  African  Association. 
Everything  they  had  attempted  had  ended  disastrously, 
and  news  had  just  reached  them  of  the  sad  death  of 
Major  Houghton.  Should  the  task  now  be  given  up, 
or  was  it  to  be  resumed  with  renewed  zeal  and  ardour  ? 
There  could  be  but  one  answer.  The  work  begun  must 
be  continued.  Surely  in  the  end  it  must  be  crowned 
with  success.    Meantime,  who  was  to  take  it  up  ? 

While  the  Association  was  thus  inquiring  for  the  man 
fitted  to  entrust  with  their  perilous  venture,  Park  was 
still  undecided  as  to  what  course  in  life  he  was  to  pursue. 
With  Sir  Joseph  Banks  as  a  link  between,  there  could 
not  fail  to  be  a  speedy  understanding  and  a  mutual 
settlement  of  the  questions  at  issue  for  both.  The 
projects  of  the  Association  speedily  came  to  Park's  ears. 
Here  was  the  very  work  he  wanted,  promising  oppor- 
tunities to  indulge  in  his  love  of  travel  and  natural 
history  far  transcending  his  wildest  dreams.  A  splendid 
prospect  of  a  gi'eat  work  accomplished  and  glory  won, 
of  difficulties  surmounted  and  fame  achieved,  opened  up 
before  him.  Before  such  a  chance  there  could  be  no 
irresolution,  no  doubting,  no  fears.  His  course  was 
clear,  and  at  once  he  volunteered  his  services,  which 
were,  on  the  part  of  the  Company,  as  promptly  and 
eagerly  accepted  as  they  had.  been  offered. 

Mungo  Park  was  then  twenty-four  years  of  age. 


CHAPTER  VL 


AT  THE  THRESHOLD. 

On  the  2  2ncl  of  May  1795,  Mungo  Park  left  England 
on  board  the  Endeavour,  an  African  trader.  On  the 
21st  of  the  following  month  he  landed  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Gambia. 

Bathurst,  the  present  seat  of  government  for  the 
Gambia  basin,  was  not  then  in  existence,  with  its  pre- 
sent busy  European  community  and  thriving  native 
population,  its  imposing  public  buildings  and  well  laid 
out  streets.  The  native  town  of  Jillifri  on  the  noi-th 
bank,  and  a  little  way  up  the  river,  was  the  first  place  of 
call  in  the  early  trading  days  of  the  Gambia  merchants. 

From  Jillifri  the  Endeavour  ascended  the  river  to 
Jonkakonda. 

The  view  which  opened  up  before  Park  as  he  proceeded 
was  neither  attractive  nor  promising.  The  river  flowed 
seaward  deep  and  muddy,  its  banks  covered  with  im- 
penetrable forests  of  mangiwe,  forming  when  the  tide 
was  out  a  horrible  expanse  of  swamp.  The  air  was 
thick  with  a  sickening  liaze,  charged  with  the  poisonous 
exhalations  from  the  foetid  mud  engendered  by  heat  and 
moisture.  Here  and  there  only,  a  group  of  cocoa-nuts, 
or  an  isolated  bombyx  (silk-cotton  tree)  relieved  the 
dreary  monotony,  and  gave  a  momentary  pleasure  to 
the  eye. 


AT  THE  THEESHOLD. 


47 


Behind  the  mangrove  swamps  the  country  spread  out 
in  a  level  plain,  "very  generally  covered  with  woods, 
and  presenting  a  tiresome  and  gloomy  uniformity  to  the 
eye ;  but  although  nature  has  denied  to  the  inhabitants 
the  beauties  of  romantic  landscapes,  she  has  bestow^ed  on 
them  with  a  liberal  hand  the  more  important  blessings 
of  fertility  and  abundance." 

At  Jonkakonda,  which  seems  to  have  been  one  of 
the  chief  trading  stations  on  the  river,  Park  left  the 
Endeavour,  and  proceeded  to  the  factory  of  Pisania,  a 
few  miles  further  on. 

In  Dr.  Laidley,  the  agent  in  charge,  fior  whom  he 
brought  letters,  Park  found  not  only  a  generous  host, 
but  also  a  thoroughly  competent  adviser,  and  for  several 
succeeding  months  the  merchant's  house  and  wide  ex- 
perience were  alike  at  his  disposal. 

The  objects  to  be  attained  by  his  expedition  were — 
To  reach  the  river  Niger  by  such  route  as  might  be  found 
most  convenient ;  to  ascertain  its  oiigin,  course,  and 
if  possible  its  termination  ;  to  visit  the  chief  towns  in 
its  neighbourhood,  but  more  particularly  Timbuktu  and 
those  of  the  Haussa  country. 

Park's  ardent  enthusiasm  was  ever  tempered  with 
the  caution  and  prudent  practical  character  of  his 
race.  Like  an  old  campaigner  he  set  about  learning 
what  was  ahead  of  him,  and  otherwise  preparing 
for  his  difficult  and  dangerous  task.  The  Mandingo 
language  had  to  be  acquired,  that  he  might  come 
into  more  sympathetic  touch  with  the  natives,  and 
be  more  independent  of  interpreters,  ever  a  source  of 
profound  danger,  and  often  the  greatest  obstacle  to 
the  advance  of  the  explorer  into  unknown  countries. 
In  addition  inquiries  had  to  be  made  regarding  routes, 

D 


48 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


the  (Inngei's  to  be  avoided,  and  the  general  condition  of 
travel  in  these  parts.  Without  such  information  it  was 
clear  to  him  that  he  Avould  be  as  a  blind  man  walking  in 
a  country  beset  with  a  thousand  pitfalls. 

But  while  thus  preparing  for  his  task,  Park  was 
not  oblivious  to  what  was  more  immediately  around. 
"We  get  glimpses  of  him  making  natural  history  col- 
lections by  day,  and  taking  astronomical  observations 
by  night.  In  particular  he  occupied  himself  in  getting 
up  the  details  of  the  trade  of  the  Gambia.  Since  the 
time  when  Stibbs  had  ascended  the  river  in  the  vain 
hope  of  reaching  the  Niger,  a  considerable  change  had 
come  over  the  commerce  of  the  region.  The  fancied 
wealth  of  Timbuktu  had  not  been  tapped,  but  the  com- 
modities of  the  countries  within  reach  of  the  river  had 
proved  no  inconsiderable  source  of  profit.  In  the  year 
1730  we  find  one  factory  alone  consisting  of  a  governor, 
deputy-governor,  and  two  other  principal  ofiicers ;  eight 
factors  (hence  the  word  factory)  or  trading  agents,  thir- 
teen writers,  twenty  inferior  attendants  and  tradesmen, 
a  company  of  soldiers,  and  thirty-two  negro  serwants,  not 
to  speak  of  the  crews  of  various  sloops,  shallops,  and 
boats.  From  that  date,  however,  competition  set  in, 
till  at  the  end  of  the  century  the  gross  value  of 
British  exports  had  fallen  to  ;^2o,ooo. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  even  in  Park's  time  the  chief 
article  of  export  is  slaves.  Accustomed  as  we  are  in  these 
days  to  denounce  in  the  strongest  terms  this  vile  traffic, 
and  to  brand  as  the  most  degraded  and  brutal  of  their 
race  those  who  engage  in  it,  it  is  difficult  to  realise  that 
less  than  a  century  ago  we  ourselves  were  the  chief  traf- 
fickers in  human  flesh  and  blood.  How  little  this  horrible 
trade  touched  the  conscience  of  the  individual  or  of  the 


AT  THE  THRESHOLD. 


49 


country  at  large  is  sufficiently  shown  by  Park's  own 
narrative.  We  seek  there  in  vain  for  a  word  of  con- 
demnation, or  the  indication  of  a  consciousness  that 
there  was  any  iniquity  in  it.  Not,  be  it  noted,  for 
lack  of  knowledge  of  the  attendant  cruelties  or  even 
through  lack  of  pity  for  the  victims.  On  the  contrary, 
he  describes  "  the  poor  wretches  w^hile  waiting  shipment 
kept  constantly  fettered  two  and  two  together,  and  em- 
ployed in  the  labours  of  the  field ;  and,  I  am  sorry  to 
add,  very  scantily  fed,  as  well  as  harshly  treated." 

Later  on  he  accompanied  a  slave  caravan  on  its  way 
to  the  coast.  With  simple  naturalness  he  tells  the  whole 
story  of  the  horrors  of  the  route,  describing  the  fetters 
and  chains,  the  frightful  marches,  with  heavy  loads, 
under  a  sweltering  sun,  and  with  starvation  rations ; 
the  whip  mercilessly  applied  to  the  w^eary  to  stimulate 
them  to  further  exertions,  and  the  knife  placed  to  the 
throat  of  the  hopelessly  exhausted,  at  once  to  rid  them 
of  pain  and  their  drivers  of  a  burden — "  an  operation  I 
did  not  wish  to  see,  and  therefore  marched  on." 

He  is  quite  aware  that  all  these  horrors  are  perpe- 
trated that  a  European  market  may  be  supplied.  He 
knows  also  what  has  preceded  the  slave  path,  and  yet, 
incredible  as  it  may  seem,  not  one  indignant  protest  is 
drawn  from  him,  not  one  appeal  to  Christian  Europe, 
not  even  a  word  of  commendation  of  the  work  already 
inaugurated  for  its  suppression.  Quite  the  opposite,  in 
fact,  on  which  point  let  Park  speak  for  himself.  "  How 
far  it  (slavery)  is  maintained  and  supported  by  the  slave 
traffic,  which  for  two  hundred  years  the  nations  of 
Europe  have  carried  on  with  the  natives  of  the  coast, 
it  is  neither  within  my  province  nor  in  my  power  to 
explain.     If  my  sentiments  should  be  required  con- 


50 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


cerning  the  effect  which  a  discontinuance  of  that  com- 
merce would  produce  on  the  manners  of  the  natives,  I 
should  have  no  hesitation  in  observing  that  in  the  pre- 
sent unenlightened  state  of  their  minds  my  opinion  is, 
the  effect  would  neither  be  so  extensive  or  beneficial  as 
many  wise  and  worthy  persons  fondly  expect." 

The  wonder  of  the  thing  is  intensified,  to  our  mind, 
when  we  reflect  on  the  deep  religious  nature  of  Park, 
his  genuine  kind-heartedness,  his  noble  ambitions,  and 
his  appreciation  of  all  that  is  sweet  in  human  nature. 
The  story  is  pregnant  with  meaning  as  to  the  influence 
of  our  environment  in  opening  or  shutting  our  eyes  to 
what  is  going  on  around  us. 

But  while  Britain  was  then  awakening  to  a  sense  of 
its  guilt,  and  preparing  to  purge  itself  of  the  unholy 
trafiic,  we  find  from  Park's  notes  that  a  new  trade, 
destined  to  have  almost  as  terrible  consequences,  was 
already  established.  Europe,  he  tells  us,  took  from  the 
Gambia  chiefly  slaves,  and  gave  in  return  spirits  and 
ammunition.  For  over  two  hundred  years  the  unfortu- 
nate natives  of  Africa  had  been  treated  as  wild  creatures, 
the  lawful  prey  and  spoil  of  the  higher  races.  The 
mother  w\as  tempted  to  sell  her  child,  and  the  chief  his 
subjects.  Village  fought  against  village,  and  tribe  against 
tribe,  that  American  plantations  might  be  tilled.  As 
wild  beasts  and  things  accursed  the  negroes  were  shot 
down  in  myriads,  in  myriads  they  perished  on  the  road, 
in  myriads  were  transported  to  a  life  of  shame  and 
misery.  And  now,  when  a  new  order  of  things  was 
about  to  be  instituted,  there  had  commenced  another 
hundred  years  of  disgraceful  commerce  to  complete  the 
work  of  brutalising  the  West  Coast  negro,  of  blighting 
all  elevating  impulses,  and  suppressing  all  habits  of 


AT  THE  THRESHOLD. 


51 


industry,  transforming  him  into  what  he  is  to-day — 
the  most  \dllainous,  treacherous,  and  vicious  being  to 
be  found  in  all  Africa. 

Thanks  to  the  slave  trade  in  past  centuries,  and  the 
gin  traffic  in  the  present,  our  West  Coast  Settlements, 
instead  of  being  bright  jewels  in  the  imperial  crown  of 
Britain,  are  at  this  day  little  better  than  standing  monu- 
ments to  her  disgrace.  Happily  the  closing  years  of 
this  century  are  showing  signs  of  an  awakened  public 
conscience.  Governments,  companies,  and  private  mer- 
chants alike  are  taking  a  higher  view  of  their  respon- 
sibilities to  barbarous  races,  and  before  another  half 
century  has  come  and  gone  we  may  hope  to  see  the 
vile  monster  badly  scotched  if  not  killed. 

But  while  we  gather  from  Park  that  in  his  day  the 
slave  trade  was  carried  on  by  British  merchants  without 
a  qualm  of  conscience,  and  that  already  gunpowder  and 
gin  formed  the  staple  articles  of  barter  for  human  flesh 
and  blood,  it  is  hardly  less  noteworthy  that  Islam  was 
steadily  making  its  beneficent  influence  felt  through- 
out the  whole  land.  He  tells  us  that  the  inhabitants 
were  divided  into  two  great  classes — the  Sonakies  or 
spirit  drinkers,  and  the  Bushreens  or  Mohammedans  : 
the  former,  pagans  sinking  deeper  and  deeper  in  the  scale 
of  humanity  under  the  degrading  influence  of  European 
intercourse  and  commerce ;  the  latter  ever  rising  upwai-d, 
adopting  decent  dress  and  decent  behaviour,  building 
mosques  and  establishing  schools,  and  specially  attempt- 
ing to  stem  the  flood  of  vile  spirits  poured  into  the 
country  by  Christian  merchants. 

We  have  in  a  previous  chapter  alluded  to  the  mighty 
revolution  produced  by  Islam  in  the  Central  Sudan. 
Here  we  are  only  at  the  missionary  outposts.  Further 


52 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


inland,  as  we  follow  the  footsteps  of  Park,  we  shall  see 
more  and  more  of  the  good  work  Mohammedanism  had 
accomplished  in  Central  Africa. 

Meanwhile  it  was  not  all  study  and  observation  with 
the  young  explorer.  He  had  to  go  through  a  seasoning 
process  of  an  unpleasant  nature.  Having  on  one  occasion 
imprudently  exposed  himself  to  the  night  dew,  he  caught 
a  fever,  and  while  recovering  had  a  second  attack,  which 
kept  him  a  prisoner  for  some  additional  weeks. 

Thanks  to  the  care  of  Dr.  Laidley  no  evil  consequences 
followed,  while  "  his  company  and  conversation  beguiled 
the  tedious  hours  during  that  gloomy  season  (the  rains) : 
when  suffocating  heats  oppress  by  day,  and  when  the 
night  is  spent  by  the  terrified  traveller  in  listening  to 
the  croaking  of  frogs,  of  which  the  numbers  are  beyond 
imagination,  the  shrill  cry  of  the  jackal,  and  the  deep 
howling  of  the  hyena — a  dismal  concert  interrupted 
only  by  the  roar  of  such  tremendous  thunder  as  no 
pei'son  can  form  a  conception  of  but  those  who  have 
heard  it." 


CHAPTER  VII. 


FROM  THE  GAMBIA  TO  THE  SENEGAL. 

The  time  had  at  last  arrived  for  Park  to  start  on  bis 
great  undertaking. 

In  the  beginning  of  October  the  Gambia  had  attained 
its  greatest  height,  or  fifteen  feet  above  the  high-water 
mark  of  the  tide,  and  then  had  begun  to  subside  rapidly, 
so  that  by  the  beginning  of  November  the  river  had  sunk 
to  its  normal  level.  This  was  the  time  to  travel.  The 
natives  had  reaped  their  crops,  and  food  was  cheap  and 
plentiful.  The  rains  were  over,  the  land  well  drained 
and  dried,  the  atmosphere  less  moist  and  oppressive — 
all  of  which  circumstances  combined  to  make  travelling 
more  agreeable  and  infinitely  more  healthy. 

At  first  Park  had  hoped  to  accompany  a  native 
caravan  going  into  the  interior,  but  abandoned  the  idea 
on  finding  that  he  would  have  to  wait  an  indefinite 
period  for  such  an  escort.  He  therefore  determined  to 
depend  on  his  own  resources  rather  than  lose  another 
good  travelling  season. 

On  the  2nd  December  1795  he  was  ready  for  the 
road.  Accustomed  as  we  are  to  read  of  the  huge  cara- 
vans, the  quantities  of  goods,  stores,  ammunition,  and 
instruments  required  by  exploring  expeditions  to  the 
heart  of  Africa  in  these  degenerate  days,  we  cannot  but 

be  surprised  at  the  modest  letinue  and  scanty  imjjedi- 

53 


54 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


menta  which  Park  thought  necessary  for  his  great  task. 
His  sole  attendants  were  a  negro  servant  named  John- 
son, who  had  been  to  Jamaica  as  a  slave,  bnt  being 
freed  had  returned  to  his  native  country ;  and  Demba, 
a  slave  boy  belonging  to  Dr.  Laidley,  who,  besides  Man- 
dingo,  spoke  the  language  of  one  of  the  inland  tribes. 

As  beasts  of  burden  Park  had  a  small  but  hardy  and 
spirited  horse  for  himself,  and  two  donkeys  for  his 
servants.  As  baggage  he  had  provisions  for  two  days ; 
a  small  assortment  of  beads,  amber,  and  tobacco  for  the 
.purchase  of  fresh  supplies  as  needed ;  a  few  changes  of 
linen  and  other  necessary  articles  of  dress ;  an  umbrella, 
a  pocket  sextant,  a  magnetic  compass,  and  a  thermo- 
meter. For  defensive  purposes  he  was  pro\ided  with 
two  fowling-pieces,  two  pairs  of  pistols,  and  some  other 
small  weapons.  Thus  attended,  thus  provided,  and  thus 
armed,  Mungo  Park  started  for  the  Heart  of  Africa — 
an  uncertain  bourne  only  to  be  reached  through  deadly 
perils  and  frightful  miseries  and  hardships.  How  splen- 
didly equipped  he  must  have  been  T\ith  the  real  neces- 
saries of  the  hero — unflinching  determination,  ardent 
enthusiasm,  Homeric  resolve,  and  absolute  self-reliance. 
Thus  provided  vdih.  moral  weapons  and  stimulants  he 
could  rise  superior  to  every  difiiculty  and  danger,  and 
emerge  from  the  unequal  struggle  uncrushed,  undefeated, 
bearing  with  him  not  all,  but  much  of  the  prize  for  which 
he  had  staked  life  itself. 

Besides  Johnson  and  Demba,  Park  had  the  advantage 
of  the  company  of  a  Mohammedan  on  his  way  to  Bam- 
barra,  two  slatees  or  slave-merchants  going  to  Bondou, 
and  a  blacksmith  returning  home  to  Kasson. 

For  the  first  two  marches  Dr.  Laidley  and  two  other 
Europeans  accompanied  him  on  his  way,  feeling  as  if 


FROM  THE  GAMBIA  TO  THE  SENEGAL. 


55 


they  were  performing  the  last  offices  for  the  dead,  for 
they  never  expected  to  see  him  again. 

On  the  3rd  of  December  he  took  leave  of  these  kind 
friends,  and  turned  his  face  inland  towards  the  east  and 
.the  Unknown.  As  he  rode  slowly  into  the  woods,  after 
breaking  the  last  link  which  connected  him  with  Europe 
and  civilisation,  and  took  the  road  so  lately  traversed  by 
Major  Houghton,  he  could  not  but  recall  that  to  the 
latter  it  had  been  a  road  to  death.  Before  him  rose 
up  jiictures  of  repellent  waterless  deserts,  of  trackless 
jungles,  gloomy  primeval  forests,  and  miasmatic  marshes 
which  had  to  be  penetrated  before  his  eyes  would  rest 
upon  the  river  Niger.  Only  too  clearly  he  saw  the 
dangers  from  man  and  beast  which  had  to  be  faced 
before  he  could  ever  hope  to  get  once  more  in  touch 
with  European  civilisation.  "  Thoughts  like  these  neces- 
sarily cast  a  gloom  over  the  mind,  and  I  rode  musingly 
along  for  about  three  miles,  when  I  was  awakened  fi-om 
my  reverie  by  a  body  of  people  who  came  running  up 
and  stopped  my  asses."  And  with  his  reflections  thus 
broken  by  one  of  the  innumerable  annoyances  of  Afiican 
travel,  they  were  not  again  resumed. 

For  the  first  few  marches  there  was  little  to  note 
either  in  incidents  of  travel  or  in  aspects  of  man  and 
iiatiu'e.  The  scenery  was  pleasant,  though  but  slightly 
varied — gentle  wooded  acclivities  everywhere,  alternat- 
ing with  cultivated  interspaces  surrounding  towns  and 
villages.  The  inhabitants  were  Mandingoes,  untroubled 
by  the  trammels  of  clothes.  Pagans  for  the  most  pait, 
and  confirmed  spirit  drinkers ;  the  rest  Mohammedans, 
respectable  in  character,  decent  in  dress  and  behaviour, 
lovers  of  education  and  religion,  haters  of  strong 
drink. 


5G 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


By  both  divisions  of  the  community  Park  was  hospi- 
tably received,  and  treated  to  such  simple  fare  and  lodg- 
ing as  they  themselves  possessed.  AVith  daily  practice 
the  fatigues  of  the  way  became  less  harassing,  while  a 
keen  appetite,  and  the  knowledge  that  absolutely  nothing  » 
else  was  to  be  had,  made  otherwise  coarse  food  seem 
palatable.  Gradually  a  new  standard  of  comfort  was 
formed  on  a  scale  pi-opoitionate  to  present  possibilities, 
so  that  at  length  positive  enjoyment  could  be  got  out  of 
both  food  and  lodging  which  previously  would  have  been 
deemed  repulsive  and  miserable. 

From  the  district  of  Walli  Park  entered  that  of  Wuli. 
At  Medina,  the  capital  of  the  latter,  he  was  received 
kindly  by  the  king,  who  strongly  dissuaded  him  from 
proceeding  further  east  into  countries  where  the  white 
man  was  unknown,  and  where  the  fate  of  Houghton 
might  be  his.  But  Park  was  not  to  be  discouraged, 
seeing  which  the  king  provided  him  with  a  guide  to 
take  him  on  his  way. 

From  Medina  the  route  diverged  from  the  Gambia, 
and  passed  E.N.E.  towards  the  Senegnl.  For  some  days 
nothing  special  characterised  the  mai-ch.  Everywhere, 
however,  the  explorer  gets  interesting  glimpses  of  the 
life  and  ways  of  the  natives,  of  their  genius  for  story- 
telling and  their  forensic  skill,  or  of  their  love  of  wi'est- 
ling,  an  art  in  which  they  are  such  adepts  that  he 
"thinks  that  few  Europeans  would  have  been  able  to 
cope  with  the  conqueror." 

At  one  place  he  finds  that  the  men  have  a  curious 
way  of  administering  disciplinary  punishment  to  trouble- 
some wives. 

Evidently  in  the  huge  feminine  establishments  of  the 
Mandigo  husband  the  ordinary  human  hand  is  unable  to 


FKOM  THE  GAMBIA  TO  THE  SENEGAL. 


57 


keep  the  women  in  due  subjection  and  order.  The  unfor- 
tunate husband  with  trouble  in  the  house,  and  afraid  to 
tackle  the  offender  or  offenders  in  the  ordinary  manner, 
has  recourse  to  underhand  ways.  In  every  village  a 
masquerading  dress  is  kept  for  the  use  of  Mumbo  Jumbo, 
a  mysterious  person  whose  business  it  is  to  seek  out  and 
punish  wayward  wives.  When  a  husband  finds  matters 
becoming  too  hot  for  him  in  his  household,  he  secretly 
possesses  himself  of  this  dress  and  disappears  into  the 
woods.  At  nightfall  frightful  noises  are  heard  near  the 
town — the  signal  that  Mumbo  Jumbo  is  abroad.  Terror 
falls  upon  every  mutinous  and  erring  member  of  the  frail 
yet  troublesome  sex,  for  no  one  knows  on  whom  the 
rod  shall  descend.  None,  however,  dare  to  disobey  the 
summons,  for  now  they  have  to  deal  with  the  devil  him- 
self, backed  up  by  all  the  male  powers  of  the  village. 
For  the  men  the  occasion  is  a  joyous  one — though 
not  so  for  the  women.  All  hurry  to  the  meeting- 
place  to  take  part  in  the  proceedings,  and  unite  in 
the  active  assertion  of  marital  authority.  But  the 
victim  is  not  immediately  pounced  upon.  The  terrors 
and  uncertainties  of  conscious  backsliders  must  be  en- 
dured for  hours,  cloaked  beneath  a  well-simulated  air 
of  innocence  and  careless  gaiety.  The  time  is  spent 
in  songs  and  dances,  as  if  to  celebrate  the  coming  de- 
tection of  the  rebel  and  the  triumph  of  order  and  the 
principle  of  masculine  rule.  About  midnight  the  witch- 
like revelry  ceases,  and  a  frost  of  uneasy  silence  falls 
upon  the  female  throng.  Who  is  to  be  the  victim  ?  The 
next  moment  the  question  is  practically  answered,  as 
one  of  the  number  is  seized,  stripped  naked,  tied  to  a 
post,  and  severely  scourged  amid  the  applause  of  the 
crowd,  loudest  among  whom  are  the  ninety  and  nine 


58 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


other  women,  each  of  whom  a  moment  before  had 
thought  herself  a  possible  sufferer. 

A  similar  spirit  is  not  unknown  m  our  own  country 
and  times. 

On  the  I  ith  December  Mungo  Park,  without  mishap 
or  discouragement,  had  reached  Kujar,  the  frontier 
town  of  Wuli,  to  the  east. 

Between  Wuli  and  Bondou,  the  next  country,  there 
lay  a  waterless  wilderness,  two  days'  march  in  extent. 
The  guide  from  the  King  of  Wuli  had  here  to  return, 
and  his  place  was  taken  by  three  elephant  hunters. 

At  Kujar,  Park  found  himself  examined  with  an  in- 
creased curiosity  and  reverence,  indicating  a  much  less 
degree  of  familiarity  with  the  white  man. 

On  the  1 2th  the  party  started  for  the  passage  of  the 
wilderness,  minus  one  of  the  guides,  who  had  absconded 
with  the  money  be  had  received  in  advance.  Before 
proceeding  far  the  two  remaining  guides  insisted  on 
stopping  till  they  had  ensured  a  safe  journey  by  pre_ 
paring  a  charm  which  would  divert  all  danger  from 
them.  The  charm  was  simple  enough,  and  consisted  in 
muttering  a  few  sentences  over  a  stone,  which  was  after- 
wards spat  upon  and  thrown  in  the  direction  of  travel — 
a  process  repeated  three  times. 

At  midday  the  little  party  of  travellers  reached  a  tree, 
called  by  the  natives  Neema  Faha,  which  was  hung  all 
over  with  offerings  of  rags  and  scraps  of  cloth  to  pro- 
pitiate the  evil  spirit  of  the  place.  This  practice  prevails 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  savage  Africa, 
though  Park  appears  to  have  mistaken  its  meaning, 
and  thinkins:  it  due  to  the  desire  of  travellers  to  indicate 
that  water  was  near,  followed  their  example  by  hanging 
on  one  of  the  boughs  a  handsome  piece  of  cloth.  At 


FROM  THE  GAMBIA  TO  THE  SENEGAL.  59 


the  neighbouring  pool,  where  they  had  proposed  to 
camp,  signs  of  a  recently  extinguished  fire  made  them 
suspicious  of  the  vicinity  of  robbers,  and  they  therefore 
pushed  ahead  to  the  next  well,  which  they  did  not  reach 
till  eight  in  the  evening. 

For  the  first  time  the  dangers  and  difiiculties  of  his 
journey  were  brought  \^vidly  home  to  Park  when  after  a 
hard  day's  work  he  and  his  party  had  to  lie  out  in  the 
open,  on  the  bare  ground,  surrounded  by  their  animals, 
and  had  to  keep  strict  watch  and  ward  for  possible 
attack.  With  daylight  they  filled  their  water-skins 
and  calabashes  and  set  out  for  Falika,  the  western 
frontier  town  of  Bondou,  which  they  reached  before 
midday. 

In  Bondou,  Park  foimd  new  aspects  of  nature  and 
other  races  of  men. 

For  fertility  the  land  was  unsurpassed.  Lying  on  the 
parting  ridge  between  the  Gambia  and  the  Senegal,  it 
was  better  drained  than  the  country  left  behind,  a  fact 
evidenced  by  the  appearance  of  the  mimosa.  Towards 
the  east  it  rose  into  ranges  of  hills. 

Far  different,  too,  were  the  Fulah  inhabitants.  A 
tawny  complexion,  small,  well-shaped  features,  and  soft, 
silky  hair,  distinguished  them  at  a  glance  from  the  negro 
races  around  them.  Among  them  Mohammedanism  was 
the  prevailing  religion,  though  not  by  any  means  exer- 
cised intolerantly,  for  the  system  of  Mahomet  is  made 
to  extend  itself  by  means  abundantly  more  efiicacious. 
By  establishing  schools  in  the  different  towns,  where 
many  of  the  Pagan  as  well  as  Mohammedan  children  are 
taught  to  read  the  Koran,  and  instructed  in  the  tenets 
of  the  Prophet,  the  Mohammedan  priests  fix  a  bias  on 
the  mind  and  form  the  character  of  their  young  disciples 


60 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER 


which  no  accidents  of  life  can  ever  afterwards  remove  or 
alter."  Of  which  latter  fact  let  our  Christian  mission- 
aries take  note,  and  if  possible  learn  a  lesson  therefrom. 

This  remarkable  race  did  not  originally  belong  to 
Bondoii.  Further  south  they  were  in  even  greater  force, 
though  scattered  in  more  or  less  independent  com- 
munities from  Lake  Chad  to  the  Atlantic,  a  fact  des- 
tined, after  Park's  time,  to  have  the  most  important 
bearing  upon  the  history  of  the  whole  of  the  Western 
and  Central  Sudan. 

Everywhere  Park  found  the  Fulahs  remarkable  for 
their  industry,  and  no  less  successful  in  agriculture 
than  in  pastoral  pursuits,  which  seem  to  have  been  their 
original  speciality.  In  their  hands  Bondou  developed  a 
degree  of  wealth  unkno\\'n  in  neighbouring  states.  Its 
prosperity,  however,  was  also  in  great  measure  due  to 
its  being  on  the  chief  highway  of  the  commerce  from 
the  interior  to  the  coast,  considerable  duties  being 
levied  on  all  merchandise  passing  through  it. 

At  Falika,  Park  secured  the  services  of  an  officer  of 
the  King  of  Bondou  as  guide  as  far  as  Fatticonda,  the 
capital 

On  resuming  their  journey  a  violent  quarrel  broke 
out  between  two  of  Park's  companions,  which  would 
probably  have  ended  in  bloodshed,  but  for  the  inter- 
ference of  the  white  man,  and  his  determined  threat 
that  he  would  shoot  down  the  first  who  again  drew 
sw^ord — an  ultimatum  which  had  the  desired  effect. 
The  rest  of  the  march  was  accomplished  in  sullen 
silence,  till  a  good  supper  terminated  all  heart-burn- 
ings, and  animosities  were  forgotten  under  the  influence 
of  the  diverting  stories  and  sweet  harmonies  of  an 
itinerant  musician. 


FROM  THE  GAMBIA  TO  THE  SENEGAL.  61 


On  the  i5tli  the  party  crossed  the  Nereko,  a  consider- 
able branch  of  the  Gambia,  and  stayed  for  the  night  at 
Kurkarany,  a  walled  town  provided  with  a  mosque. 
Four  days  later  they  crossed  a  dry  stony  height  covered 
with  mimosas,  and  entered  the  basin  of  the  Senegal. 

They  were  now  more  within  the  sphere  of  influence 
of  French  traders,  who,  as  Park  soon  saw,  had  succeeded 
with  characteristic  genius  in  suiting  the  taste  of  the 
ladies  of  the  country.  These  he  found  dressed  in 
a  thin  French  gauze,  admirably  adapted  for  the  hot 
climate,  and  rendered  dear  to  its  wearers  by  the 
manner  in  which  it  displayed  and  heightened  their 
charms.  Their  manners  proved  to  be  as  irresistible  as 
their  dress,  so  that  Park  found  it  impossible  to  with- 
stand their  appeals  for  amber,  beads,  and  other  bits  of 
sho^\y  finery.  Having  despoiled  him  of  all  he  had, 
these  "sturdy  beggars"  tore  his  cloak,  cut  the  buttons 
from  his  servant's  clothes,  and  were  proceeding  to  other 
outrages,  when  finding  this  more  than  his  gallantry 
could  stand,  he  mounted  his  horse  and  fled,  leaving 
them  disconsolate,  but  with  abundant  souvenirs. 

Next  day  the  Falem6,  a  turbulent  tributary  of  the 
Senegal,  was  reached.  The  natives  were  actively  engaged 
fishing,  and  the  country  around  was  covered  with  large 
aind  beautiful  fields  of  millet. 

It  was  not  without  apprehension  that  Park  on  the  2  ist 
December  entered  Fatticonda,  the  capital  of  Bondou. 
His  predecessor  Houghton  had  here  been  plundered  and 
badly  used,  and  he  had  every  reason  to  fear  a  similar 
fate.  But  the  situation  was  not  to  be  evaded,  so  he 
braced  himself  up  as  best  he  might  to  face  whatever 
was  in  store  for  him. 

On  entering  the  town,  he  and  his  party  took  up  their 


62 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


station  at  the  Palaver  House  or  Bentang,  as  is  the 
fashion  of  strangers,  who  thus  make  known  their  neces- 
sities, and  mutely  appeal  for  a  night's  lodging.  They 
had  not  long  to  wait  before  a  respectable  slatee  invited 
them  to  his  house. 

An  hour  afterwards  a  messenger  came  to  conduct  the 
traveller  to  the  king.  Finding  himself  led  out  of  the 
town.  Park  began  to  fear  a  trap,  but  was  reassured  on 
being  shown  the  king  sitting  under  a  tree,  and  hearing 
that  such  was  his  way  of  giving  a  private  audience. 
The  stranger's  statement  that  he  was  no  trader,  and 
that  he  only  travelled  from  motives  of  curiosity,  was 
received  with  incredulity. 

In  the  evening  Park  proceeded  to  make  a  more  formal 
call.  First,  however,  he  concealed  some  of  his  goods  in 
the  roof  of  the  hut,  and  donned  his  best  coat,  hoping 
thus  to  save  them  from  the  possible  plundering  he  might 
be  subjected  to. 

The  king's  quarters  w^ere  found  to  be  converted  into 
a  species  of  citadel  by  a  high  mud  wall,  having  a  number 
of  inner  courts,  each  court  containing  several  huts.  After 
threading  a  series  of  intricate  passages  guarded  by  armed 
sentinels,  the  king,  Almami,  was  at  last  reached.  Again 
he  showed  himself  but  half  satisfied  with  the  white 
man's  explanations  of  the  object  of  his  visit.  The  idea 
of  travelling  merely  to  gratify  curiosity  w^as  too  new 
to  his  experience.  It  seemed  the  fancy  of  a  madman. 
The  presents  offered  put  him  in  good  humoui',  however, 
in  particular  the  gift  of  a  large  umbrella. 

As  Park  was  about  to  take  his  leave,  Almami  stopped 
him,  and  commenced  a  eulogium  of  the  generosity  and 
immense  wealth  of  the  white  men.  From  the  general 
he  came  down  to  the  particular,  and  had  much  that  w^as 


FROM  THE  GAMBIA  TO  THE  SENEGAL. 


63 


flattering  to  say  of  his  guest  for  the  time  being — a  praise 
soon  directed  pointedly  to  the  traveller's  handsome  coat 
and  shining  buttons,  until  at  length  it  became  clear  to 
its  owner  that  it  was  not  only  admired  but  coveted. 
There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  take  the  coat  off  and 
lay  it  at  the  feet  of  the  wily  monarch,  who  did  his  best 
to  console  the  giver  by  declaring  that  henceforth  the  gar- 
ment should  be  his  state  dress  for  all  great  occasions. 

For  once  Park's  caution  had  overreached  its  object. 

Next  morning  the  traveller  visited  by  request  the 
wives  of  Almami.  He  found  himself  surrounded  by  a 
dozen  young  and  handsome  women,  decorated  with  gold 
and  amber,  who  clamoured  for  physic  and  beads,  and  to 
have  some  blood  taken  from  them.  They  rallied  him 
upon  the  whiteness  of  his  skin,  which  they  said  was 
due  to  his  having  been  dipped  in  milk  when  an  infant ; 
and  on  the  prominence  of  his  nose,  which  they  declared 
had  been  pinched  into  that  shape  by  his  mother.  Park 
was  equal  to  the  occasion.  He  had  compliments  for  all 
of  them.  The  glossy  jet  of  their  skin  and  the  contours 
of  their  retrousse  noses,  the  bright  glitter  of  theii'  eyes 
and  brilliant  whiteness  of  their  teeth  were  alike  praised. 
This  delicate  flattery,  with  the  addition  of  some  blood- 
letting and  a  quantity  of  drastic  medicine,  was  irre- 
sistible ;  and,  though  Park  does  not  say  so,  undoubtedly 
the  good  impression  he  left  behind  among  the  ladies 
contributed  materially  to  his  immunity  from  the  fate 
of  his  predecessor.  Not  only  was  he  not  plundered, 
but  his  baggage  w^as  not  even  searched.  Still  better, 
Almami  on  parting  gave  him  five  drachms  of  gold. 

On  the  23rd  the  traveller  resumed  his  journey  in 
the  best  of  spirits  after  liis  unexpectedly  good  reception. 
At  mid-day  a  halt  was  called  for  rest  and  refreshment, 

E 


64 


MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


by  way  of  preparation  for  the  passage  of  the  dangerous 
district  lying  between  Bondou  and  the  next  country, 
Kajaaga,  which  it  would  be  necessary  to  traverse  under 
cover  of  night. 

As  soon  as  the  people  of  the  village  were  asleep,  the 
donkeys  were  reloaded,  and  as  silently  as  possible,  so  as 
not  to  disturb  the  villagers,  the  party  passed  out  into 
the  wilderness.  The  moon  was  shining  brightly,  illu- 
mining their  way.  The  air  was  perfectly  still,  raising 
neither  sigh  nor  rustle  from  leaf  or  bough.  The 
deep  solitudes  of  the  forest  were  undisturbed  save  by 
the  solemn  impressive  howling  of  wild  beasts,  and 
shrieks  and  hoots  of  night-birds  which  mingled  dis- 
cordantly with  the  deafening  musical  uproar  of  m)T?iad 
insects,  and  the  clutter  of  innumerable  frogs.  Ex- 
cept in  whispers,  not  a  word  was  uttered.  Every  one 
was  on  the  alert,  at  times  guiding  the  animals,  more 
often  peering  ahead,  or  to  right  and  left,  on  the  look- 
out for  possible  robbers.  Happily  no  human  enemies 
appeared,  though  many  were  the  alarms,  as  from  time  to 
time  an  unusual  sound,  or  the  vaguely  descried  figure  of 
a  prowling  hyena,  made  each  man  seize  his  gun  with  a 
firmer  grasp.  Towards  morning  a  village  was  reached 
where  the  little  party  were  enabled  to  rest  themselves 
and  their  animals  before  entering  in  the  afternoon  the 
country  of  Kajaaga. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


ACROSS  THE  SENEGAL  BASIN. 

The  further  Park  proceeded  east  the  drier  and  purer 
became  the  cHmate,  and  the  more  interesting  the  land- 
scape. In  Kajaaga,  lying  between  the  Faleme  and  the 
Senegal,  he  found  a  country  everywhere  interspersed 
with  a  pleasing  variety  of  hills  and  valleys,  to  which 
the  serpentine  windings  of  the  Senegal  descending  from 
the  rocky  heights  gave  both  picturesqueness  and  beauty. 
The  inhabitants,  unlike  the  Fulahs,  were  jet  black  in 
complexion,  resembling  in  this  respect  the  Joloffs  nearer 
the  coast. 

The  people  of  Kajaaga  are  known  as  Serawulies,  and 
are  noted  for  their  keen  trading  propensities — at  this  time 
chiefly  directed  towards  supplying  slaves  to  the  British 
factories  on  the  Gambia. 

On  the  24th  December  Park  entered  Joag,  the  western 
frontier  town,  and  was  there  hospitably  received  by  the 
chief  man  of  the  place,  officially  known  as  Dooty  or 
Dute.  The  town  was  surrounded  by  a  high  mud  wall, 
as  was  also  every  individual  private  establishment. 
Though  the  headman  and  the  principal  inhabitants  were 
Mohammedans,  it  appeared  that  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  were  still  Pagans,  as  was  sufficiently  shown  by 
the  nature  of  their  wild  night  revelries — the  ladies  in 
their  dances  vying  with  each  other  in  displaying  the  most 
voluptuous  movements  imaginable." 


66 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Park's  trials  were  now  about  to  commence.  During 
the  night  a  number  of  horsemen  arrived,  and  after  talk- 
ing with  the  host,  took  up  their  quarters  in  the  Palaver 
House  beside  the  traveller  himself.  Thinking  the  latter 
was  asleep,  one  of  them  attempted  to  steal  his  gun,  but 
finding  he  could  not  effect  his  purpose  undiscovered,  he 
desisted  from  the  attempt.  This,  however,  w^as  but  a 
foretaste  of  coming  trouble.  It  was  easy  to  see  that 
Johnson  was  growing  very  uneasy  at  the  aspect  of  affairs  ; 
not  without  cause  either,  as  very  soon  became  evident. 
Two  of  Park's  companions,  who  had  been  at  a  dance  in 
a  neighbouring  village,  came  in  with  the  news  that  a 
pai-ty  of  the  king's  horsemen  had  been  heard  inquiring 
if  the  white  man  had  passed,  and  on  being  told  that 
he  was  at  Joag,  had  immediately  galloped  off  in  that 
direction. 

Even  while  they  were  speaking  the  horsemen  arrived, 
and  next  moment  Park  found  himself  surrounded  by 
some  twenty  soldiers,  each  carrying  a  musket.  Resist- 
ance was  useless ;  he  could  only  wait  in  much  anxiety 
to  hear  his  fate. 

At  length,  after  a  brief  interval,  a  member  of  the 
party,  who  was  loaded  with  an  enormous  number  of 
charms  to  ward  off  all  forms  of  evil,  opened  their  busi- 
ness in  a  long  harangue.  The  w-hite  man,  they  said, 
had  violated  the  laws  of  the  countiy  by  entering  it  with- 
out paying  the  customary  duties,  and  had  accordingly 
forfeited  everything  he  possessed.  The  soldiers  had 
orders  to  take  him  to  the  king  by  force  if  necessary. 

Conceive  the  position  Park  was  now  in.  Utter  ruin 
stared  him  in  the  face,  and  the  collapse  of  all  his  cherished 
schemes.  To  fight  was  out  of  the  question.  All  he  could 
do  was  to  try  to  gain  a  little  time  to  think  matters  out, 


ACROSS  THE  SENEGAL  BASIN. 


67 


and  seek  the  advice  of  his  companions  and  host.  They 
were  unanimous  in  declaring  that  it  would  be  disastrous 
to  him  to  accompany  the  horsemen.  A  long  argument 
with  the  spokesman  ensued,  by  dint  of  which,  and  the 
present  of  Almami's  five  drachms  of  gold,  the  messenger 
became  somewhat  mollified. 

They  demanded,  however,  to  be  shown  the  baggage, 
from  which  they  helped  themselves  to  whatever  they  hap- 
pened to  fancy;  and  -having  thus  despoiled  their  victim 
of  half  his  goods,  they  left  him  to  his  gloomy  reflections 
and  an  indifferent  supper  after  a  day  of  fast. 

'i  hus  reduced  in  his  already  scanty  resources,  and  his 
j  o  er  to  travel  correspondingly  limited.  Park  found  but 
Job's  comforters  in  his  companions.  One  and  all  they 
urged  him  to  turn  back  from  his  hopeless  task.  Johnson, 
especially,  laughed  at  the  very  idea  of  proceeding  further, 
miserably  pro\dded  as  they  were.  But  the  spirit  of  the 
leader  rose  superior  to  his  misfortunes,  and  he  never 
for  a  moment  admitted  the  idea  of  retreat.  While 
strength  remained  there  could  be  no  flinching  from  his 
task.  Yet  his  thoughts  were  gloomy  enough  that  night 
as  he  sat  reviewing  his  situation  through  the  hours  of 
darkness  by  the  side  of  a  smouldering  fire.  Morning 
brought  no  improvement  to  his  position.  The  scanty 
supper  was  followed  by  no  breakfast. 

What  few  articles  still  remained  dared  not  be  pro- 
duced, lest  they  too  should  be  plundered.  It  was  re- 
solved, therefore,  to  pass  the  day  without  food,  tmsting 
to  Providence  for  a  stray  meal  sooner  or  later. 

As  the  day  wore  on  the  pangs  of  hunger  began  to 
make  themselves  felt.  To  allay  this  in  some  measure 
the  unfortunate  travellers  chewed  straws,  a  make-be- 
lieve yielding  as  scant  comfort  as  it  did  sustenance. 


68 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


But  Park's  faith  in  God  was  not  belied.  Towards 
evening  an  old  female  slave  passed  by  with  a  basket  on 
her  head,  and  struck  by  his  woe-begone,  famished  look, 
she  asked  him  if  he  had  had  his  dinner.  Thinking  she 
spoke  in  jest,  he  did  not  reply.  Not  so  his  boy  Demba, 
w^ho  volubly,  and  with  the  eloquence  of  suffering,  told 
the  story  of  their  misfortunes  and  their  needs.  In  a 
moment  the  old  woman  had  her  basket  on  the  ground, 
and  a  plentiful  supj^ly  of  ground-nuts  was  placed  in 
their  hands,  the  donor  thereafter  marching  away  with- 
out waiting  for  a  word  of  thanks. 

Further  good  fortune  was  now  in  store  for  them.  It 
happened  that  Demba  Sego  Jalla,  the  Mandingo  king 
of  Kasson  further  east,  had  sent  his  nephew  to  the  King 
of  Kajaaga  to  try  to  arrange  some  disputes  which  were 
threatening  to  lead  to  war.  The  embassy,  however,  had 
met  with  no  success.  Returning  homeward,  the  king's 
nephew  had  heard  of  there  being  a  w^hite  man  at  Joag 
who  was  desirous  of  visiting  Kasson,  and  curiosity 
brought  him  to  see  the  stranger.  On  hearing  Park's 
story,  the  young  noble  offered  him  his  protection  all 
the  way — an  offer  that  was  eagerly  and  gratefully 
accepted. 

Thus  guided  and  protected.  Park  set  out  for  Kasson 
on  the  27th.  Some  distance  on  the  way  Johnson,  in 
spite  of  his  life  in  Jamaica  and  his  seven  years'  residence 
in  England,  showed  that  he  still  was  saturated  with  the 
superstitious  ideas  of  his  youth  by  producing  a  white 
chicken  and  tying  it  by  the  leg  to  a  particular  tree  as 
an  offering  to  the  spirits  of  the  woods.  The  same  belief 
in  nature  spirits  has  already  been  alluded  to  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter.  Anthropologists  tell  us  that  it  must  at 
one  time  have  been  universal,  and  evidences  of  it  are 


ACROSS  THE  SENEGAL  BASIN. 


69 


found  not  only  in  the  charming  legends  of  the  Greeks, 
with  their  nymphs  of  meadow,  grove,  and  spring,  and 
dryads  growing  with  the  oaks  and  pines,  but  also  in 
our  own  Anglo-Saxon  words. 

In  the  evening  the  party  safely  arrived  at  Sami,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Senegal.  Park  describes  the  sister 
river  to  the  Gambia  as  being  at  this  point  a  beautiful 
but  shallow  stream,  flowing  slowly  over  a  bed  of  sand 
and  gi'avel.  The  banks  are  high  and  covered  with  ver- 
dure, and  are  backed  by  an  open  cultivated  country,  the 
distant  hills  of  Felow  and  Bambuk  adding  an  addi- 
tional beauty  to  the  landscape.  A  few  miles  below  Sami 
w^as  the  former  French  trading  station  of  St.  Joseph, 
founded  by  Sieur  Brue,  but  abandoned  in  the  time 
of  Park.  Next  morning  the  party  proceeded  a  little 
further  up  the  river  to  Kayi,  where  they  crossed  with 
no  small  difficulty  and  danger,  the  animals  being  swum 
over,  and  the  baggage  conveyed  in  a  miserable  canoe. 

While  Park  was  crossing  by  the  same  means  the  canoe 
was  capsized  by  an  injudicious  movement  on  the  part  of 
his  protector,  but  being  near  the  bank,  no  harm  came  of 
it,  and  a  second  attempt  landed  him  safely  in  the  country 
of  Kasson. 

The  young  noble,  having  once  brought  the  white 
traveller  into  his  own  country,  soon  showed  that  no 
generous  motives  had  prompted  his  assistance.  Un- 
hesitatingly he  demanded  a  handsome  present.  Park, 
seeing  that  it  was  useless  either  to  upbraid  or  to  com- 
plain, with  a  heavy  heart  made  the  necessary  selection 
from  his  scanty  stock  of  goods,  and  presented  the  offer- 
ing forthwith. 

On  the  evening  of  the  29th  the  party  reached  Tisi, 
where  Park  was  lodged  with  his  protector's  father, 


70 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Tiggity  Sego,  the  head  man  of  the  place.  Next  morning 
a  shave  having  mn  away,  the  use  of  Park's  horse  was 
asked  for  the  chase,  to  which  he  "  readily  consented, 
and  in  about  an  hour  they  all  returned  with  the  slave, 
who  was  severely  flogged,  and  afterwards  put  in  irons." 

Park  was  detained  for  several  days  at  Tisi,  while  his 
horse  was  further  used  by  his  host  on  a  more  extended 
mission^  During  his  enforced  detention  our  traveller 
had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a  somewhat  more  drastic 
method  of  propagating  Islam  than  any  he  had  yet  wit- 
nessed. An  .embassy  of  ten  persons  arrived  from  the 
King  of  Futa  Larra,  a  country  to  the  west  of  Bondou, 
and  announced  to  the  assembled  inhabitants  that  unless 
all  the  people  of  Kasson  embraced  the  Mohammedan 
religion,  and  evinced  their  conversion  by  sapng  solemn 
public  prayers,  he,  the  King  of  Futa  Larra,  would  cer- 
tainly join  his  arms  to  those  of  Kajaaga. 

Such  a  coalition  would  have  been  disastrous  to  Kasson, 
and  without  a  moment's  hesitation  the  conversion  was 
agreed  to.  Accordingly,  one  and  all  did  as  was  desired, 
offering  up  solemn  piuyers  in  token  that  they  were  no 
longer  Pagans,  but  followers  of  Mohammed. 

It  was  not  till  the  8th  of  January  1796  that  Demba 
Sego,  the  young  noble,  returned  with  the  traveller's  horse, 
whereupon  Park,  impatient  at  the  delay,  declared  that 
he  could  spend  no  more  time  at  Tisi,  and  must  proceed 
to  the  capital.  He  was  informed  he  could  not  do  so 
until  he  had  paid  the  customary  trading  duties.  Some 
amber  and  tobacco  were  offered,  but  they  were  laid  aside 
as  totally  inadequate  for  a  present  to  a  man  of  Tiggity 
Sego's  importance.  Once  more  Park  had  to  submit  to 
seeing  his  baggage  ransacked.  One-half  he  had  already 
lost  at  Joag,  and  now  half  of  what  remained  had  to 


ACKOSS  THE  SENEGAL  BASIN. 


71 


be  similarly  sacrificed  to  satisfy  the  rapacity  of  his  tor- 
mentors. 

Thus  despoiled,  Park  was  permitted  to  depart  next 
morning.  His  course,  which  so  far  had  been  E.N.E.,  was 
now  E.S.E.  In  the  afternoon  the  party  arrived  at  the 
village  of  Jumbo,  the  birthplace  of  the  blacksmith  who 
had  faithfully  accompanied  Park  from  Pisania.  The 
entire  population  turned  out  to  welcome  back  their 
townsman  with  dance  and  songs.  The  poor  fellow's 
meeting  with  his  blind  mother  was  most  touching.  Un- 
able to  see  him,  she  stretched  out  her  arms  to  welcome 
him,  and  after  eagerly  satisfying  herself  by  touch  of 
face  and  hands  that  it  was  indeed  her  son  who  had 
returned,  she  gave  wild  expi-ession  to  her  delight.  From 
which  Park  concludes,  "  that  whatever  differences  there 
are  between  the  Negi'o  and  the  European  in  the  confor- 
mation of  the  nose  and  the  colour  of  the  skin,  there  is 
none  in  the  genuine  sympathies  and  characteristic  feel- 
ings of  our  common  nature." 

This  affectionate  welcome  over,  the  villagers  had  time 
to  turn  their  attention  to  the  white  man.  At  first  they 
looked  or  affected  to  look  upon  him  as  a  being  dropped 
from  the  clouds,  the  women  and  children  shrinking 
from  him  half  in  fear,  half  in  awe.  On  being  assured 
by  their  countr^nnan  that  he  was  a  good-tempered  and 
inoffensive  creature,  they  gradually  laid  aside  their  mis- 
givings, and  began  to  feel  the  texture  of  his  clothes,  and 
assure  themselves  that  he  was  indeed  cast  in  much  the 
same  mould  as  themselves.  Still  his  sUghtest  move- 
ment was  sufiicient  to  arouse  their  tremors  and  make 
them  scamper  off  like  a  flock  of  sheep  which  had 
valorously  marched  up  to  view  a  sleeping  dog. 

Next  day  Park  continued  his  journey  to  a  place  called 


72 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Sulu,  where  he  had  an  order  from  Dr.  Laidley  on  a  slatee 
for  the  value  of  five  slaves.  Hardly  had  he  been  hospi- 
tably 'received  by  Dr.  Laidley's  client,  when  messengers 
arrived  from  Kuniakary  with  orders  that  he  should 
proceed  at  once  to  the  king.  Thither  accordingly  he 
journeyed,  arri\'ing  late  in  the  evening. 

The  rule  of  "  like  master,  hke  man "  did  not  hold 
good  in  relation  to  the  King  of  Kasson  and  such  of  his 
subordinates  as  Park  so  far  had  come  in  contact  with. 
His  reception  by  one  whose  "  success  in  war  and  the 
mildness  of  his  beha\'iour  in  times  of  peace  had  much 
endeared  him  to  his  subjects,"  was  an  agi^eeable  varia- 
tion to  the  hard  fate  which  had  lately  dogged  his  foot- 
steps. The  king  was  not  only  satisfied  with  his  visitor's 
story  and  his  poor  present,  but  promised  him  every 
assistance  in  his  j^ower.  He  warned  him,  however,  that 
the  road  to  Bambarra  was  for  the  time  being  rendered 
extremely  dangerous,  if  not  altogether  impassable,  by  the 
outbreak  of  war  between  that  state  and  the  adjoining 
one  of  Kaarta.  In  the  hope  of  the  arrival  of  more  re- 
assuring news  Park  waited  four  days,  staying  the  while 
with  the  Sulu  slatee,  from  whom  he  received  gold  dust 
to  the  value  of  three  slaves.  This  transaction  coming  to 
the  ears  of  the  king.  Park  was  compelled  to  add  con- 
siderably to  the  value  of  his  former  present. 

The  country  around  Sulu  presented  an  enchanting 
prospect  of  simple  rural  plenty,  while  the  scenery  sur- 
passed in  richness  and  variety  any  Park  had  yet  seen. 
The  density  of  the  population  was  illustrated  by  the  fact 
that  the  King  of  Kasson  could  raise  within  sound  of  his 
great  war  drum  an  army  of  four  thousand  fighting  men. 
The  one  drawback  to  the  amenities  of  the  place  was  the 
numerous  bands  of  w^olves  and  hyenas  which  nightly 


ACROSS  THE  SENEGAL  BASIN. 


73 


attacked  the  cattle,  and  were  only  to  be  driven  off  by 
organised  parties  of  men  with  fii^es  and  torches. 

From  Sulu,  Park  procee(Jed  S.E.  np  the  rocky  valley 
of  the  Kriko,  meeting  everyrv^here  swarms  of  people 
leaving  the  expected  seat  of  war  in  Kaai-ta. 

On  the  8th  he  left  the  charming  valley  of  the  E^riko, 
and  travelled  over  a  rough  stony  pountry  to  the  ridge 
of  hills  which  forms  the  boundaiy-line  between  Kasson 
and  Kaarta.  Thence  his  way  lay  down  a  stony  preci- 
pitous path  into  the  dried-up  bed  of  a  stream,  whose 
overarching  trees  afforded  to  the  wayfarer  a  grateful 
shade.  Emerging  from  this  romantic  glen,  the  party 
found  itself  on  the  level  sandy  plains  of  Kaarta,  having 
the  hilly  ranges  of  Fuludu  on  their  right. 

On  the  third  day  from  Sulu,  Park  witnessed  a  new 
method  of  consulting  the  Oracle  as  to  the  fate  in  store 
for  them  on  the  road.  To  his  great  alarm,  their  guide, 
who  was  a  Mohammedan  in  name  and  a  Pagan  at  heart, 
came  to  an  abrupt  standstill  in  a  dark  lonely  part  of  a 
wood.  Taking  a  hollow  piece  of  bamboo  he  whistled 
very  loud  three  times.  Thereafter  he  dismounted,  laid 
his  spear  across  the  pathway,  and  again  whistled  thrice. 
For  a  short  time  he  listened  as  if  for  an  an^er,  and 
receiving  none,  told  Park  that  now  they  might  proceed, 
for  the  way  was  clear  of  danger. 

Next  day  the  superstitious  ideas  cherished  by  the 
natives  were  further  illustrated.  Park  had  wandered 
some  distance  from  his  party,  when,  just  as  he  reached 
the  brow  of  a  slight  eminence,  a  couple  of  negro  horse- 
men galloped  from  the  bushes.  Immediately  on  seeing 
each  other  Park  and  the  negroes  alike  came  to  an  abrupt 
stop,  each  equally  filled  with  alarm.  The  white  man  was 
the  first  to  regain  his  presence  of  mind,  and  concluding 


74 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


that  advance  was  his  safer  course,  he  moved  towards  them. 
This  was  too  much  for  the  terrified  natives,  who  thought 
they  saw  in  the  strange  figure  before  them  some  terrible 
spirit.  One  of  them,  with  a  wild  look  of  horror,  turned 
and  fled ;  the  other,  paralysed  beyond  action,  could  only 
cover  his  eyes  and  mutter  his  prayers.  In  this  position 
he  would  have  remained  stationary,  but  for  the  instinct 
of  his  horse,  which  led  him  to  follow  his  companion. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  12th,  Park  and  his  pirty 
entered  the  capital  of  Kaarta.  On  announcing  their 
arrival  to  the  king,  a  messenger  was  sent  to  convey  them 
to  a  hut  and  protect  them  from  the  inquisitive  crowd. 
In  carrying  out  the  latter  part  of  his  commission  the 
messenger  signally  failed,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  after- 
noon our  explorer  remained  on  exhibition,  the  hut  being 
filled  and  emptied  thirteen  times  by  an  admiring  and 
curious  mob. 

In  the  evening  his  majesty  gave  Park  an  audience, 
seated  on  a  clay  divan  raised  a  couple  of  feet  above 
the  floor,  and  covered  with  a  leopard's  skin,  the  sign  of 
authority.  The  way  to  the  throne  lay  through  a  long 
lane  formed  by  a  huge  crowd  of  fighting  men  on  the  one 
side,  and  of  women  and  children  on  the  other. 

The  reception  of  the  stranger  was  highly  encouraging. 
He  was  told,  however,  that  he  had  chosen  a. most  inoppor- 
tune time  to  attempt  to  pass  into  Bambarra,  and  he  was 
advised  to  return  to  Kasson,  and  there  await  the  end  of 
the  war  just  commencing.  That,  however,  meant  the 
loss  of  the  dry  season,  and  Park  dreaded  the  thought 
of  spending  the  rainy  season  in  the  interior.  These 
considerations,  and  the  aversion  I  felt  at  the  idea  of 
returning  without  having  made  a  greater  progress  in 
discovery,  made  me  determined  to  go  forward." 


ACROSS  THE  SENEGAL  BASIN. 


75 


Hearing  this  determination,  the  king  showed  his 
kindly  intentions  by  pointing  out  that  there  was  another 
— though  a  more  dangerous  and  circuitous  route — to 
Bambarra,  namely,  that  by  way  of  Ludamar,  an  Ai^ab 
district  to  the  north-west  of  Kaarta,  At  the  same  time 
he  promised  to  give  the  white  man  guides  for  this  route 
as  far  as  Jarra,  his  frontier  town.  With  this  offer  Park 
only  too  gladly  closed. 

Before  the  audience  ended  a  horseman  arrived  in 
foaming  haste  to  annoimce  that  the  Bambarra  army 
had  left  Fuludu  for  Kaarta. 

Next  morning,  after  Park  had  sent  his  horse-pistols 
and  holsters  as  a  present  to  his  royal  host,  a  large  escort 
was  provided  to  protect  and  lead  him  on  his  way  to 
Ludamar. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


TO  LUDAMAR. 

It  must  have  been  with  no  pleasant  sensations  that  Park 
turned  aside  from  his  direct  route  E.S.E.  to  the  Niger, 
and  proceeded  north  instead  to  Ludamar.  In  addition 
to  the  increased  distance,  there  were  the  hundredfold 
greater  dangers  to  be  encountered.  Houghton  had  pre- 
ceded him  over  the  same  road,  with  what  results  his 
successor  only  too  well  knew.  And  yet,  as  matters 
turned  out,  it  was  perhaps  as  well  that  he  elected  to 
try  his  fate  by  the  more  circuitous  route.  Before  many 
days  were  over  Kaarta  was  desolated  by  the  Bambarra 
army,  which  only  retired  laden  with  spoil  on  finding  that 
the  last  refuge  of  the  king  could  neither  be  stormed  nor 
reduced  by  stai-vation.  The  trouble  of  the  Kaartans 
did  not  end  with  the  war  with  Bambarra,  for  they  fell 
out  with  the  people  of  Kasson,  and  before  the  year  was 
ended  had  to  face  a  coalition  of  various  enemies. 

On  the  1 3th  February  Park  started  for  Ludamar.  His 
escort  of  over  two  hundred  horsemen  seems  to  have  been 
of  little  use,  for  in  the  evening  the  hut  in  which  his 
luggage  was  deposited  was  entered,  and  some  of  his 
rapidly  diminishing  stores  stolen.  Next  day  he  came 
upon  some  negroes  gathering  the  fruit  of  the  Rhamnus 
lotus,  which  being  converted  into  a   species  of  bread, 

forms  no  inconsiderable  addition  to  the  food  of  the 

76 


TO  LUDAMAR. 


77 


natives  of  Kaarta  and  Ludamar.  This  shrub,  Park  does 
not  doubt,  is  the  lotus  mentioned  by  Pliny  as  the  food 
of  the  Libyan  Lotophagi. 

The  increased  dangers  of  the  new  route  were  amply 
illustrated  as  Ludamar  was  approached.  Bands  of  ma- 
rauding Moors  were  taking  advantage  of  the  unsettled 
state  of  the  country  to  carry  off  cattle  with  impunity. 
At  one  town  Park  saw  five  Moors  calmly  select  sixteen 
of  the  finest  oxen  of  a  herd,  and  in  the  presence  of  five 
hundred  negroes  drive  them  away  without  even  a  show 
of  resistance.  One  young  man  who  had  been  out  in 
the  fields,  and  had  shown  more  courage,  had  been  shot, 
and  was  brought  in  dying.  His  mother,  frantic  with 
grief,  filled  the  air  with  her  shrill  shrieks  and  lamenta- 
tions, clapping  her  hands  the  while.  He  never  told  a 
lie "  was  the  astonishing  encomium  passed  upon  him,  a 
phenomenal  occurrence  in  a  continent  where  lying  is  a 
virtue,  and  the  art  is  raised  to  its  utmost  perfection. 
On  being  assured  that  all  hope  of  saving  the  boy's  life 
was  gone,  some  good  Mohammedans  did  their  best  to 
ensure  him — though  hitherto  a  Pagan — a  place  in  Para- 
dise, by  getting  him  to  repeat  the  sacred  formula  of  Islam, 
in  which  pious  effort  they  happily  were  successful.  • 

On  the  1 7  th,  Park,  in  company  with  numbers  of  people 
flying  from  the  terrors  of  war,  travelled  during  the  night, 
to  escape  the  more  immediate  danger  of  Moorish  robbers. 
After  resting  during  the  early  morning,  they  resumed 
their  journey  at  daybreak.  Two  hours  later  they  passed 
Simbing,  from  which  Houghton  had  despatched  the 
graphic  letter,  already  quoted,  telling  of  his  destitute 
condition,  but  unalterable  intention  of  proceeding  to 
Timbuktu.  At  noon,  Jarra,  the  southern  frontier 
town  of  Ludamar,  was  reached.     It  was  from  this 


78 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


place  that  Park's  predecessor  was  decoyed  into  the 
desert  by  Moors,  and  after  being  stripped,  was  left 
either  to  die  of  starvation  or  be  murdered  by  passing 
ruffians,  a  point  never  satisfactorily  cleared  up,  though 
Park  was  shown  the  spot  where  he  breathed  his  last. 

At  Jarra,  Park  was  hospitably  received  by  a  Gambia 
slatee,  who  had  borrowed  goods  from  Dr.  Laidley  to  the 
value  of  six  slaves,  for  which  debt  Park  was  provided 
with  an  order.  The  debt  was  acknowledged,  but  the 
merchant  pleaded  inability  to  pay  more  than  two  slaves. 

Our  traveller  had  now  entered  a  more  inhospitable 
region.  Ludamar  was  found  to  be  inhabited  by  negroes, 
an  Arab  race  largely  intermixed  with  negro  blood  form- 
ing the  rulers  and  possessing  the  worst  characteristics  of 
both  sides  of  descent. 

Park  and  his  attendants  were  not  long  in  experiencing 
the  brutal  and  inhospitable  character  of  this  degraded 
hybrid  people. 

Difficulties  had  met  them  at  every  step  of  their  journey, 
and  now  nothing  but  new  terrors  loomed  up  before  them. 
So  great  did  these  seem,  and  so  overbearing  and  threaten- 
ing was  the  attitude  of  the  Moors,  that  Park's  servants 
declared  they  would  rather  lose  everything  they  possessed 
than  proceed  further.  Kot  only  were  they  liable  to 
robbery  and  ill-usage,  but  not  improbable  to  slavery  also. 
These  facts  were  so  patent  that,  though  unwavering  in 
his  own  determination  to  push  on,  Park  could  not  bring 
himself  to  force  his  men  to  follow  him.  Accordingly 
he  made  arrangements  for  parting  with  them.  Among 
other  things,  he  prepared  duplicates  of  his  papers  to  put 
into  the  hands  of  Johnson.  Meanwhile  a  messenger 
had  been  sent  to  Ali,  chief  of  the  country,  to  ask  per- 
mission to  pass  through  his  country  to  Bambarra.  The 


TO  LUDAMAR. 


79 


request  was  accompanied  by  a  present  of  fine  garments 
of  cotton  cloth  which  Park  purchased  from  the  slatee  in 
exchange  for  his  fowhng-piece.  Fourteen  days  elapsed 
before  an  answer  was  returned,  and  then  he  was  told  to 
follow  Ali's  messenger  to  Gumba. 

On  preparing  to  depart,  hopeful  as  ever  that  yet  he 
should  live  to  see  the  Niger,  he  was  further  cheered  by 
the  fidelity  of  his  boy  Demba,  who  seeing  his  master  was 
not  to  be  dissuaded  from  his  determination  to  proceed, 
resolved  not  to  desert  him,  whatever  might  be  the  result. 
It  then  came  out  that  Johnson,  whose  residence  among 
Europeans  had  only  served  to  corrupt  him,  had  treacher- 
ously tried  to  seduce  Demba  to  return  with  him  and 
leave  the  white  man  to  his  fate. 

To  diminish  the  inducements  to  plunder.  Park,  before 
starting,  left  as  many  of  his  personal  effects  behind  him 
as  he  could  spare.  For  two  days  the  little  party  toiled 
over  a  sandy  country.  On  the  third  day  they  reached 
Dina,  a  large  town  built  of  stone  and  clay.  The  recep- 
tion Park  here  met  with  at  the  hands  of  the  natives  was 
atrocious.  Every  opprobrious  epithet  which  their  vocabu- 
lary could  supply  was  hurled  at  him.  Not  content  with 
words,  they  proceeded  to  spit  upon  and  otherwise  heap 
ignominy  upon  the  stranger,  ending  by  tearing  open 
his  bundles  and  helping  themselves  to  whatever  they 
had  a  mind.  For  the  victim  of  these  outrages  there 
was  nothing  but  patience  and  resignation,  with  which 
virtues,  indeed,  he  seems  to  have  been  amply  endowed. 
He  might  be  robbed  of  his  material  resources,  but  his 
spiritual  stores  remained  untouched.  With  him,  while 
there  was  life  there  was  hope. 

Not  so  with  his  servants.  They  had  no  magnet  to 
draw  them  on,  no  higher  impulse  than  monetary  reward. 

F 


80 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Further  forward  they  would  not  go.  So  be  it  !  Their 
retreat  was  excusable,  but  Omvard  must  be  their 
master's  watchword  so  long  as  any  pencil  of  light  glim- 
mered through  a  loophole — Onward  as  long  as  limbs 
and  strength  and  hope  held  out. 

Not  daring  to  face  another  day  of  insult  and  plunder, 
nor  yet  a  night  of  gloomy  reflection,  Park  gathered 
together  such  valuables  as  he  could  carry,  left  the  village 
under  cover  of  darkness,  and  with  magnificent  resolu- 
tion started  alone  on  his  forlorn  hope  of  reaching  the 
Niger. 

As  the  huts  disappeared  behind  him,  the  moon  shone 
out  bright  and  clear  in  the  heavens,  filling  the  night 
with  its  mellow  beauty,  both  literally  and  figuratively 
lighting  up  the  dark  path  before  him. 

From  all  sides  came  the  roar  of  wild  beasts,  adding 
to  the  terrors  of  the  situation.  Undismayed,  however, 
and  still  unwavering,  he  plodded  onward  through  the 
night.  He  had  not  proceeded  far  when  a  clear  halloo 
stopped  his  resolute  footsteps.  The  accents  sounded 
familiar,  and  in  a  few  moments  more  he  was  joined  by 
his  faithful  servant  Demba.  Park  then  found  that  the 
boy  had  made  up  his  mind  to  stand  by  him,  though 
Ali's  messenger  returned  to  his  master. 

The  little  party  of  two  now  continued  their  journey, 
travelling  steadily  on  over  a  sandy  country  covered  with 
asclepias.  At  midday  they  reached  a  few  huts,  but 
were  prevented  from  drawing  water  from  the  village 
well  by  the  appearance  of  a  lion.  They  therefore  had 
to  endure  the  pangs  of  thirst  with  patience  till  the  even- 
ing, when  they  entered  a  town  occupied  by  Fulahs. 
Park  now  seemed  to  have  touched  the  bottom  of  his 
misfortunes.    For  several  days  he  proceeded  unmolested 


TO  LUDAMAR. 


SI 


through  Ludamar,  each  new  day,  each  mile  nearer  his 
goal,  filling  his  sanguine  mind  with  brighter  and  fresher 
hopes. 

On  the  5th  March  he  reached  DalK.  The  villagers, 
hearing  that  a  white  man  had  arrived,  deserted  the 
revelries  attendant  on  a  feast,  and  hastened  to  see  the 
phenomenal  stranger.  Not  pell-mell,  however,  like  the 
rude  mob  of  Dina,  but  in  a  decorous  procession,  and 
headed  by  flute -players,  as  if  they  felt  themselves 
honoured  by  the  visit.  Round  Park's  hut  they  con- 
tinued to  dance  and  sing  till  midnight,  during  which 
time  he  had  to  keep  himself  continuously  on  exhibition 
to  satisfy  their  simple  and  kindly  if  somewhat  over- 
whelming curiosity. 

Next  day  Park  moved  on  to  a  village  to  the  east  of 
Dalli  to  escape  the  crowd  which  usually  assembled  there 
in  the  evening.  Again  his  reception  was  most  hospi- 
table. The  head  man  considered  himself  highly  distin- 
guished by  having  such  a  guest  in  his  house,  and  showed 
it  practically  by  killing  two  fine  sheep  to  feast  him  and 
his  own  friends. 

Park  was  now  only  two  days  from  Gumba,  the 
first  town  of  Bambarra.  He  had  but  to  reach  that 
place  to  be  safe  from  the  thieving  and  brutal  half-caste 
Moors,  whose  rule  of  the  unhappy  negroes  was  but 
another  name  for  rapine  and  plunder.  His  hopes  were 
high  that  now  the  success  of  his  mission  was  almost 
assured.  In  fancy  he  saw  himself  already  on  the  bank 
of  the  Niger,  which  he  had  come  so  far  and  suffered  so 
much  to  see.  His  imagination  revelled  in  a  thousand 
delightful  scenes  in  his  future  progress. 

Thus  buoyed  up  with  glowing  thoughts,  he  abandoned 
himself  with  unrestrained  gaiety  to  the  harmless  festivi- 


82 


MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


ties  organised  by  his  negro  host,  whose  manners  were  in 
striking  contrast  to  his  experience  of  those  of  the  Luda- 
mar  Moors. 

But  just  when  his  golden  dream  was  at  its  brightest, 
it  was  shattered  by  a  rude  awakening.  Messengers 
arrived  from  Ali  with  orders  to  convey  the  white  man 
either  peaceably  or  by  force  to  his  camp  at  Benaun. 
Park  was  struck  dumb  with  painful  emotions,  though 
slightly  relieved  on  hearing  that  the  sole  cause  of  his 
being  taken  back  was  the  curiosity  of  Fatima,  AH's 
favourite  wife.  That  lady's  desire  to  see  a  white  man 
being  satisfied,  the  chief  promised  that  he  should  be 
conveyed  safely  on  his  way  to  Bambarra. 

There  was  no  gainsaying  Ali's  orders,  and  argument 
was  of  no  avail.  Once  more  Park  must  fall  back  on 
his  patience  and  his  hope.  Now  practically  prisoners, 
he  and  his  faithful  boy  Demba  were  carried  back  to 
Dina,  where  his  reception  had  already  been  so  brutal. 
Here  he  was  brought  before  one  of  Ali  s  sons,  who  soon 
gave  him  a  taste  of  the  dangers  and  indignities  in  store 
for  him.  Barely  was  he  seated  when  a  gvm  was  handed 
to  him,  and  he  was  told  to  repair  the  lock  and  dye 
the  stock  blue.  Knowing  nothing  of  such  matters, 
Park  could  only  declare  his  ignorance.  He  was  then 
ordered  to  produce  his  knives  and  scissors,  and  hand 
them  over  to  the  young  tyrant.  On  Demba  attempting 
to  explain  that  they  had  no  such  articles,  their  tor- 
mentor sprang  up  in  a  fury,  seized  a  musket,  and  was 
about  to  blow  out  the  poor  boy's  brains,  when  the  by- 
standers interfered  and  saved  his  life. 

After  this  unpleasant  incident  master  and  man  beat 
a  hasty  retreat  from  the  hut,  and  it  is  little  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  latter  tried  to  escape  altogether. 


TO  LUDAMAR. 


83 


Next  day  the  prisoners  were  conveyed  to  Benaun,  the 
headquarters  of  the  paramount  chief  of  Ludamar,  under 
a  terrible  sun,  and  over  burning  sands.  They  travelled 
all  day  "with  almost  no  water,  the  pangs  of  thirst  being 
slightly  alleviated  by  the  use  of  gum,  which  keeps  the 
mouth  moist  and  allays  the  pain  in  the  throat.  In  the 
evening  they  arrived  at  their  destination,  a  temporary 
camp,  consisting  of  a  great  number  of  dirty-looking 
tents  scattered  without  order,  among  which  were  large 
herds  of  camels,  cattle,  and  goats.  At  the  outskirts 
of  the  camp.  Park,  by  much  entreaty,  procured  a  little 
water. 

The  arrival  of  the  white  traveller  was  the  signal  for  a 
great  commotion.  Women  hastened  from  their  domestic 
avocations  and  forsook  their  waterpots  at  the  well.  The 
men  mounted  their  horses — every  one  came  running  or 
galloping  helter-skelter,  amid  wild  screaming  and  shout- 
ing. In  a  ferocious  mob  they  surrounded  the  unhappy 
cause  of  their  excitement,  pouncing  upon  him  like  a 
pack  of  hyenas,  tugging  and  pulling  his  clothes,  threat- 
ening him  with  all  sorts  of  penalties  if  he  would  not 
acknowledge  the  One  God  and  His  Prophet.  In  this 
sad  plight,  half  dead  with  the  pangs  of  thirst  and  the 
fatigues  of  a  desert  march,  he  was  hustled  and  pulled 
towards  the  chief's  tent.  When  at  last  he  found  him- 
self in  the  presence  of  the  gi-eat  man,  a  single  glance  at 
his  face  was  sufficient  to  dispel  the  last  hope  of  better 
treatment.  Ali  was  an  old  man,  with  an  Arab  cast  of 
countenance,  on  whose  every  lineament  were  marked 
suUenness  and  cruelty.  While  he  passively  examined 
the  unfortunate  man  before  him,  the  women  of  his 
household  were  more  actively  engaged  inspecting  the 
dress  of  the  victim  and  searching  his  pockets.  They 


84 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


affected  to  doubt  that  he  was  a  man  at  all,  and  counted 
his  fingers  and  toes  to  assure  themselves  that  he  was 
indeed  like  themselves.  Not  content  even  with  that, 
they  must  needs  have  a  peep  at  his  white  skin,  and 
pushed  aside  his  garments  in  order  to  effect  their 
purpose. 

When  the  excitement  was  at  its  height,  the  sacred 
call  to  prayers  resounded  through  the  camp,  but  before 
the  people  fell  upon  their  knees  before  the  One  God  All 
Compassionate  and  Merciful,  with  bent  body  and  face 
pressed  in  the  dust  to  acknowledge  His  Omnipotence, 
they  had  a  new  indignity  to  put  upon  the  helpless 
stranger.  Showing  him  a  wild  hog,  they  bade  him  kill 
and  eat  it.  This  he  wisely  refused.  The  hog  was  then 
let  loose  in  the  belief  that  it  would  at  once  attack  the 
white  man,  but  instead  it  rushed  at  his  tormentors. 
The  sport  thus  missing  its  mark,  the  Moors  proceeded 
to  their  devotions,  and  Park  was  conveyed  to  the  door  of 
the  tent  of  Ali's  chief  slave,  where  after  much  entreaty 
he  was  supplied  with  a  little  boiled  corn  with  salt  and 
water,  and  then  left  to  pass  the  night  on  a  mat,  exposed 
to  cold  and  the  dews,  and  still  worse,  to  the  insults  and 
ribald  mirth  of  the  mob  which  swarmed  about  him. 


CHAPTER  X. 


CAPTIVITY  IN  LUDAMAR. 

The  treatment  which  Park  now  experienced  in  the  camp 
of  Ali  was  brutal  and  barbarous  beyond  description. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  degenerate  Arabs  of  Ludamar 
he  was  an  object  detestable  both  to  God  and  man — a 
Christian  and  a  spy.  Everything,  therefore,  that  savage 
ingenuity  covild  invent  to  insult  and  torture  him  was 
heaped  upon  him  with  fiendish  glee  and  eagerness. 

On  the  morning  after  his  arrival  he  was  confined  in 
a  small  square  flat- roofed  hut  built  of  corn  stalks,  which 
happily  admitted  the  breeze  and  excluded  the  sun.  The 
hog  was  tied  to  the  hut  as  a  suitable  companion  to  the 
hated  Christian. 

From  morning  till  night  the  unhappy  prisoner  had  to 

place  himself  on  exhibition,  and  incessantly  demonstrate 

the  whiteness  of  his  skin,  the  number  of  his  toes,  and 

the  method  of  adjusting  his  dress — for  all  which  torment 

he  was  repaid  with  curses.    In  common  with  the  hog,  he 

was  made  the  sport  of  men,  women,  and  children  alike. 

Not  even  at  night  was  he  left  to  himself,  being  continually 

disturbed  by  his  guards  bent  on  satisfying  themselves 

that  he  was  safe  in  the  hut,  or  by  thieves  seeking  what 

they  could  carry  away.    To  these  tortures  of  mind  and 

body  was  added  the  uncertainty  of  what  might  be  before 

him.    A  council  of  elders  had  considered  his  case,  and 

85 


86 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


he  was  variously  told  that  death,  the  loss  of  the  right 
hand,  or  the  putting  out  of  his  eyes,  was  the  fate 
reserved  for  him. 

To  add  to  the  miseries  of  his  condition,  he  had  to 
suffer  the  hardships  attendant  on  the  observance  of 
Rhamadan,  the  month  of  fasting,  during  which  the 
faithful  are  not  permitted  to  eat  or  drink  between  sun- 
rise and  sunset.  This  fast  from  meat  and  drink,  bad 
enough  at  any  time  in  a  scorching  climate,  was  rendered 
doubly  painful  to  the  unhappy  traveller  by  the  extreme 
scantiness  of  the  supply  doled  out  to  him  once  in  the 
twenty-four  hours  at  midnight.  Then,  too,  it  was  the 
hottest  time  of  the  year,  and  so  scorching  at  times  were 
the  winds  from  the  desert,  that  it  was  impossible  to  hold 
the  hand  in  a  draught  without  pain.  Sandstorms,  too, 
now  and  again  J&Ued  the  air  to  the  point  of  suffocation, 
while  the  heavens  overhead  were  as  brass,  and  the  sands 
under  foot  as  the  floor  of  an  oven. 

Under  these  distressing  conditions  Park's  only  role 
was  to  comply  with  every  command,  and  patiently  endure 
eveiy  insult,  compatible  with  appearing  as  useless  as  pos- 
sible to  the  t}T:ants,  so  that  they  might  not  be  tempted 
to  detain  him  for  the  value  of  his  services. 

Day  after  day  thus  passed,  each  one  more  miserable 
than  the  preceding,  but  Park's  iron  frame  and  indomi- 
table spirit  stood  it  all.  Where  his  savage  gaolers  failed, 
however,  the  fears  and  doubts  for  his  future  progi-ess 
and  the  ultimate  success  of  his  mission  threatened  to 
succeed.  The  excessive  heat  and  scarcity  of  water  in 
the  wilderness  made  escape  in  the  hot  season  out  of 
the  question,  while  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  travel 
to  be  faced  in  the  wet  season  appeared  scarcely  less 
appalling. 


CAPTIVITY  IN  LUDAMAR. 


87 


'  The  blackness  of  the  outlook  began  to  cloud  even  his 
sanguine  temperament,  and  the  heart  sickness  of  hope 
deferred  frequently  manifested  itself  in  fits  of  melancholy 
and  despondency.  With  the  lowering  of  his  mental  tone 
came  also  the  bodily  reaction,  and  a  smart  fever  was  the 
result. 

Even  then  he  obtained  no  alleviation  of  his  sufferings. 
His  distress  was  a  matter  of  sport  to  the  Arabs,  till  life 
became  a  burden  to  him.  He  trembled  at  times  lest 
the  peevishness,  irritability,  and  enfeebled  power  of  self- 
command  accompanying  the  disease  should  cause  him 
to  overleap  the  bounds  of  prudence,  and  in  the  height 
of  an  outburst  of  passion  commit  some  act  of  resentment 
which  would  lead  to  his  death — death,  and  with  his  work 
unfinished. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  he  left  his  hut  and 
walked  to  some  shady  trees  at  a  short  distance  from 
the  camp,  where  he  lay  down  in  the  hope  of  obtaining 
a  little  solitude.  He  was  discovered  by  Ah's  son  and  a 
band  of  horsemen,  who  ordered  him  to  get  up  and  follow 
them  back  to  camp.  Park  begged  to  be  allowed  to  stay 
a  few  hours.  For  answer  one  of  the  horsemen  drew  his 
pistol,  and  presenting  it  at  Parkas  head,  pulled  the  trigger. 
Happily  it  did  not  go  off.  Once  more  the  brute  essayed 
his  weapon  with  the  same  result.  None  of  his  com- 
panions made  the  least  attempt  to  stop  him.  Helpless, 
Park  could  but  sit  awaiting  his  doom,  what  indeed  would 
have  been  a  happy  release  from  his  miseries,  only  that 
as  yet  the  task  he  had  set  himself  was  unaccompHshed. 
With  renewed  precautions  the  pistol  was  presented  a 
third  time,  when  the  hapless  victim,  who  so  far  had  not 
spoken,  begged  his  would-be  murderer  to  desist,  promising 
at  the  same  time  to  return  with  him  to  the  camp. 


88 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Before  AH  liis  position  was  no  better.  With  fiendish 
malignity  the  latter  played  with  his  prisoner  as  a  cat 
does  with  a  mouse,  opening  and  shutting  the  pan  of  his 
pistol  and  watching  the  while  the  effect  on  the  demeanour 
of  the  white  man  before  him.  Getting  but  small  amuse- 
ment out  of  his  resolute  and  indifferent  mien,  he  sent 
him  off  at  last  with  the  threat  that  the  next  time  he 
was  found  wandering  outside  the  camp  he  would  be  shot 
forthwith, 

"  One  whole  month  had  now  elapsed  since  I  was  led 
into  captivity,  during  which  time  each  returning  day 
brought  me  fresh  distresses.  I  watched  the  lingering 
course  of  the  sun  with  anxiety,  and  blessed  his  waning 
beams  as  they  shed  a  yellow  lustre  along  the  sandy  floor 
of  my  hut,  for  it  was  then  that  my  oppressors  left  me, 
and  allowed  me  to  pass  the  sultry  night  in  solitude  and 
reflection." 

With  habit  and  time  Park  began  to  be  inured  to  his 
situation.  Hunger  and  thirst  were  more  easy  to  bear 
than  at  first,  and  the  people  getting  accustomed  to  his 
presence,  were  not  quite  so  troublesome.  To  beguile  the 
time  he  made  inquiries  regarding  the  route  to  Timbuktu 
and  the  Haussa  countries,  and  even  got  some  of  his  tor- 
mentors to  teach  him  the  letters  of  the  Arabic  alphabet. 

About  the  middle  of  April  Ali  proceeded  north  to  bring 
back  his  chief  wife  Fatima.  During  the  chief's  absence, 
though  Park  was  less  molested  than  usual,  he  was  also 
less  regularly  supplied  with  his  scanty  rations.  For 
two  successive  days  he  received  none  at  all,  and  had  to 
endure  the  pangs  of  hunger  as  best  he  might.  This  he 
found  painful  enough  at  first,  but  soon  discovered  that 
temporary  relief  might  be  had  by  swallowing  copious 
and  repeated  draughts  of  water. 


CAPTIVITY  IN  LUDAMAK. 


89 


Johnson — who  meanwhile  had  been  brought  from 
Dina  before  he  could  leave  for  the  coast — and  Demba, 
not  having  the  spirit  of  their  master  to  bear  them  up  in 
the  midst  of  misfortune,  sank  into  the  deepest  dejec- 
tion, remaining  for  the  most  part  prostrate  on  the  sands 
in  a  sort  of  torpid  slumber,  from  which  they  could 
scarcely  be  roused  even  when  food  arrived. 

To  the  languor  and  debility  brought  on  by  semi-star- 
vation was  added  on  Park's  part  the  affliction  of  sleep- 
lessness; deep  conwlsive  respirations  shook  him  from 
head  to  foot ;  semi-blindness  seized  him,  and  with  diffi- 
culty he  fought  a  frequent  tendency  to  faint. 

But  the  cup  of  his  misery  was  not  yet  full.  The 
King  of  Bambarra,  incensed  at  Ali's  refusal  to  join  him 
against  Daisy,  King  of  Kaarta,  proclaimed  war  against 
him.  This  threw  the  country  into  confusion.  The  camp 
at  Benaun  was  at  once  broken  up,  and  a  retreat  further 
north  commenced.  On  the  first  day  a  halt  was  made  at 
a  negro  town  called  Farreni. 

Again  Park's  rations  were  forgotten.  Next  day,  fore- 
seeing similar  treatment,  he  proceeded  himself  to  the 
head  man  of  the  town  and  begged  some  food.  This  was 
not  only  granted,  but  promised  to  be  continued  as  long 
as  he  remained  in  the  neighbourhood. 

On  the  3rd  of  May  All's  camp  was  reached,  and  found 
to  be  pitched  in  the  midst  of  a  thick  wood.  Here  Park 
was  presented  to  Fatima.  This  lady  was  singularly 
beautiful,  according  to  the  Ludamar  Arab  idea — that  is 
to  say,  she  was  remarkably  corpulent.  ''A  woman  of 
even  moderate  pretensions  to  appearance  must  be  one 
who  cannot  walk  without  a  slave  under  each  arm  to 
support  her,  and  a  perfect  beauty  is  a  load  for  a  camel." 
To  attain  this  pinnacle  of  perfection,  the  girls  are  gorged 


90 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


by  their  mothers  with  great  quantities  of  kuskus  and 
camel's  milk,  which  must  be  taken  no  matter  what  the 
appetite  may  be.  "I  have  seen  a  poor  girl  sit  crying 
with  the  bowl  at  her  lips  for  more  than  an  hour,  and 
her  mother  watching  her  all  the  while  with  a  stick  in 
her  hand,  and  using  it  without  mercy  whenever  she 
observed  that  her  daughter  was  not  swallowing." 

At  first  Fatima  affected  to  be  shocked  at  Park's 
appearance,  but  showed  that  she  had  a  woman's  heart 
by  presenting  him  with  a  bowl  of  milk.  Later  on  she 
proved  to  be  his  best  friend. 

The  heat  had  now  become  insufferable.  Everything 
vegetable  was  scorched  up,  and  the  whole  eountry  pre- 
sented a  dreary  expanse  of  sand  dotted  over  w^ith  a  few 
stunted  trees  and  thorny  acacia  bushes.  Water  was 
almost  unattainable,  and  night  and  day  the  wells  were 
crowded  with  cattle  lowing  and  fighting  with  each  other 
to  get  at  the  troughs.  The  pangs  of  thirst  rendered 
many  of  them  furious  and  ungovernable,  while  the 
weak,  unable  to  contend  for  a  place,  endeavoured  to 
quench  their  thirst  by  licking  up  the  liquid  mud  from 
the  gutters — frequently  with  fatal  consequences. 

The  suffering  due  to  the  scarcity  of  water  extended  to 
the  people,  and  to  no  one  more  than  the  white  captive 
among  them.  If  his  boy  Demba  attempted  to  get  a 
supply  of  water,  he  was  usually  soundly  thrashed  for  his 
presumption.  This  treatment  became  so  intolerable  in 
the  end  that  Demba  w^ould  rather  have  died  than  go 
near  the  wells.  Park  and  his  attendants  were  in  this 
way  reduced  to  begging  from  the  negro  slaves,  but  with 
indifferent  success.  Fatima,  however,  more  than  once 
reheved  their  necessities.  Nevertheless,  time  after 
time,  Park     passed  the  night  in  the  situation  of 


CAPTIVITY  IN  LUDAMAR. 


91 


Tantalus.  No  sooner  had  I  shut  my  eyes  than  fancy 
would  convey  me  to  the  streams  and  rivers  of  my  native 
land;  then,  as  I  wandered  along  the  verdant  brink,  I 
surveyed  the  clear  stream  with  transport,  and  hastened 
to  swallow  the  delightful  draught ;  but,  alas  !  disappoint- 
ment awakened  me,  and  I  found  myself  a  lonely  captive 
perishing  of  thirst  amidst  the  wilds  of  Africa !  " 

One  night,  driven  half  wild  by  his  tortures,  he  started 
off  in  search  of  relief.  At  every  well  he  found  struggling 
herdsmen,  and  from  one  and  all  he  was  driven  away  with 
outrageous  abuse.  At  length  at  one  he  found  only  an 
old  man  and  two  boys,  from  whom  he  was  on  the  point 
of  receiving  what  he  sought,  when,  discovering  whom 
they  were  about  to  supply,  they  dashed  the  water  into 
the  trough,  and  told  him  to  drink  with  the  cattle. 
Too  glad  to  get  w^ater  in  any  way,  "  I  thrust  my 
head  between  two  of  the  cows,  and  drank  with  great 
pleasure,  until  the  w^ater  was  nearly  exhausted,  and  the 
cows  began  to  contend  with  each  other  for  the  last 
mouthful." 

Signs  that  the  wet  season  was  approaching  began  to 
show  themselves  towards  the  end  of  May  in  frequent 
changes  of  the  wind,  gathering  clouds,  and  distant 
lightning.  At  the  same  time  Park's  fate  w^as  approach- 
ing a  crisis,  and  he  began  to  revolve  schemes  of  escape. 
His  hopes  rose  high  when  discovering  that  Ali  was 
about  to  join  some  rebellious  Kaartans  in  attacking 
Daisy,  through  the  intervention  of  Fatima,  he  was 
permitted  to  accompany  the  expedition  as  far  as  Jarra. 
Once  in  Kaarta,  he  hoped  that  means  would  be  found 
to  escape  from  his  barbarous  captors. 

Fatima  next  conferred  a  further  favour  on  him  by 
returning  part  of  his  clothes,  of  which  he  had  been 


92  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


deprived  since  he  fell  into  All's  hands.  Following 
these  came  his  horse,  now  reduced,  by  hard  work  and 
starvation  feeding,  to  skin  and  bone,  but  still  fit  for 
work. 

On  the  26th  of  May,  Park  set  out  with  the  Moors 
towards  Jarra,  accompanied  by  Johnson  and  Demba. 
At  night  they  camped  at  a  watering-place  in  the  woods, 
but  the  accommodation  being  limited,  Park  was  com- 
pelled to  sleep  in  the  open  in  the  centre  of  the  huts, 
where  he  could  more  easily  be  watched. 

In  the  morning  they  had  to  face  unprotected  all  the 
violence  of  a  sandstorm,  which  raged  with  great  fury 
the  whole  day.  At  times  it  was  impossible  to  look  up. 
The  cattle,  maddened  by  the  driving  sand,  ran  reck- 
lessly hither  and  thither,  threatening  to  trample  the 
prisoners  to  death. 

Next  day  our  traveller's  rising  hopes  received  a 
serious  check.  While  preparing  to  depart  a  messenger 
arrived,  who,  seizing  Demba,  told  him  that  henceforth 
Ali  was  to  be  his  master,  and  that  he  must  return  at  once 
to  the  camp  they  had  left.  With  him  were  to  go  all  his 
present  master's  effects,  though  "  the  old  fool"  Johnson 
might  go  on  to  Jarra. 

Park  was  completely  overwhelmed  at  the  idea  of  his 
faithful  boy  being  sent  back  to  such  a  life  of  misery  as 
would  be  his  lot  in  the  household  of  Ali.  Unable  to  say 
a  word  to  the  messenger,  he  ran  straight  to  the  chief 
himself,  and  his  indignation  for  once  getting  the  better 
of  him,  he  upbraided  him  in  passionate  language  for 
the  new  injustice  he  was  about  to  commit,  compared  to 
which  all  else  was  in  his  eyes  as  nothing. 

To  this  generous  but  unwise  outburst  Ali  made  no 
reply,  beyond  ordering  him,  with  haughty  air  and  malig- 


CAPTIVITY  IN  LUDAMAR. 


93 


nant  smile,  to  mount  his  horse  immediately  or  be  sent 
back  likewise.  Terrible  was  the  struggle  in  Park's 
inmost  soul  to  refrain  from  ridding  the  world  of  such  a 
monster,  and  giving  vent  to  all  the  suppressed  feelings 
of  the  last  two  months  in  one  passionate  outburst. 

Happily  he  had  not  lost  complete  control  over  him- 
self nor  the  ability  to  comprehend  his  situation,  and  he 
retired  from  the  tent  a  prey  to  a  hundred  harassing 
emotions. 

"  Poor  Demba  was  not  less  affected  than  myself.  He 
had  formed  a  strong  attachment  towards  me,  and  had 
a  cheerfulness  of  disposition  which  often  beguiled  the 
tedious  hours  of  captivity."  But  part  they  must.  "  So 
having  shaken  hands  with  the  unfortunate  boy,  and 
blended  my  tears  with  his,  I  saw  him  led  off  by  three  of 
Ali's  slaves  towards  the  camp  at  Bubaker." 

On  the  ist  of  June,  Jarra  was  once  more  re-entered, 
and  Park  became  again  the  guest  of  the  slatee.  Every- 
thing else  now  became  subordinate  for  the  time  being 
to  the  one  object  of  procuring  the  liberty  of  Demba. 
Before  this  duty  even  his  own  escape  became  of  secon- 
dary importance.  All  his  attempts  were  ineffectual, 
however.  Ali  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  sell  or 
return  his  new-made  slave,  though  he  never  ceased  to 
hold  out  hopes  that  Demba  might  yet  be  let  off  for  a 
consideration. 

On  the  8th,  Ali  with  his  horsemen  returned  to  camp 
to  celebrate  a  festival.  Park,  to  his  great  joy,  being  left 
behind  in  the  house  of  the  slatee.  Once  more  he  began 
to  think  of  his  own  safety,  seeing  that  now  it  was  proved 
beyond  a  doubt  he  could  be  of  no  use  to  Demba. 

Meanwhile  troubles  began  to  gather  rapidly  round 
Jarra.    Ali,  after  securing  the  price  of  his  co-opera- 


94 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


tion,  treacherously  left  his  allies  to  their  fate.  Daisy 
with  his  army  was  rapidly  approaching  the  town,  whose 
inhabitants  could  expect  no  mercy  from  their  enraged 
king.  Finding  themselves  left  to  their  own  resources, 
the  latter  made  such  preparation  as  was  in  their  power  to 
defend  themselves,  at  the  same  time  sending  away  their 
women  and  children,  with  such  corn  and  cattle  as  they 
could  take  with  them.  Park  prepared  to  depart  along 
with  these.  He  saw  clearly  that  if  he  continued  where 
he  was  he  would  run  the  risk  of  being  involved  in  the 
general  slaughter  if  Daisy  were  successful,  or  if  the 
reverse,  that  he  would  sooner  or  later  fall  a  \^ctim  to  the 
Moors.  And  yet  to  go  forward  alone  seemed  terrible 
enough — for  Johnson  flatly  refused  to  proceed — without 
means  of  protection  or  goods  to  purchase  the  necessaries 
of  life,  or  an  interpreter  to  make  himself  understood  in 
the  Bambarra  language. 

The  one  comparatively  easy  road  was  that  to  the  coast, 
but  "  to  return  to  England  without  accomplishing  the 
object  of  my  mission  was  worse  than  all." 

The  old  spirit,  never  quite  killed,  was  beginning  to 
reassert  itself,  with  the  enjoyment  of  a  certain  measure 
of  free  will  and  liberty.  Whatever  was  to  be  his  fate, 
he  should  meet  it,  he  determined,  with  his  face  towards 
the  Niger. 

On  the  night  of  the  26th,  the  women  worked  inces- 
santly, preparing  food  and  packing  aiticles  that  were  not 
absolutely  necessary  for  the  flight.  Early  in  the  morning 
they  took  the  road  for  Bambarra. 

The  exodus  was  affecting  in  the  extreme — the  women 
and  children  weeping,  the  men  sullen  and  dejected — all 
of  them  looking  back  with  regret  to  the  spot  where  they 
had  passed  their  lives,  and  shuddering  at  the  possible 


CAPTIVITY  IN  LUDAMAR. 


95 


fate  before  them.  Amid  many  heartrending  scenes 
Park  mounted  his  horse,  and  taking  a  large  bag  of  com 
before  him,  set  forth  with  the  flying  multitude. 

In  this  fashion  he  travelled  onward  for  two  days, 
accompanied  so  far  by  Johnson  and  the  slatee.  At 
Koiro  a  halt  of  two  days  had  to  be  made  to  recruit  his 
half -starved  animal — an  unfortunate  delay,  since  it  gave 
time  for  All's  cliief  slave  and  four  Moors  to  arrive  in 
quest  of  their  white  prisoner.  This  new  calamity  had 
to  be  met  with  prompt  action  if  Park  was  not  to  face 
an  indefinite  period  of  miserable  captivity.  At  once  he 
resolved  to  escape  by  flight — a  "measure  which  I  thought 
offered  the  only  chance  of  saving  my  life  and  gaining  the 
object  of  my  mission." 

Johnson  was  ready  to  applaud  his  master's  resolution, 
but  flatly  refused  to  join  him. 

The  Moors,  thinking  the  white  man  safe,  did  not  trouble 
themselves  about  him,  and  he  was  thus  able  to  prepare 
a  few  articles  to  take  with  him.  Two  suits  of  clothes 
and  a  pair  of  boots  were  all  he  possessed.  He  had  not 
now  a  single  bead  or  other  article  of  commercial  value 
to  purchase  food  for  himself. 

About  daybreak  the  Moors  were  all  asleep.  Now  was 
the  time  to  make  good  his  opportunity.  Liberty  and 
possible  success  were  in  the  balance  with  renewed  cap- 
tivity and  possible  death.  A  cold  sweat  moistened  his 
forehead  as  the  importance  of  the  step  he  was  about 
to  take  was  brought  with  twofold  force  to  his  conscious- 
ness. But  to  deliberate  was  to  lose  the  only  chance  of 
escape.  He  must  make  one  more  bold  attempt  to  regain 
liberty  and  reach  the  Niger.  The  thought  was  inspira- 
tion. He  picked  up  his  bundle,  stepped  stealthily  over 
the  sleeping  negroes,  and  reached  his  horse.  Johnson 

G 


96 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


was  bidden  farewell,  and  once  more  begged  to  take  par- 
ticular care  of  the  papers  entrusted  to  him,  and  to  inform 
his  friends  on  the  Gambia  "  that  he  had  left  me  in  good 
health,  on  my  way  to  Bambarra." 

A  few  years  before,  Major  Houghton  had  sent  an 
almost  identical  message  to  the  same  Gambian  friends. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


TO  THE  NIGER. 

Once  outside  the  village,  it  behoved  Park  to  be  on  the 
alert,  and  get  as  quickly  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Moors 
as  possible.  With  his  horse  reduced  to  skin  and  bone 
speed  was  out  of  the  question,  while  the  darkness  and 
the  nature  of  the  country  otherwise  made  progress  slow. 
And  yet  how  much  was  staked  on  every  dragging  mile 
— every  moment  might  mean  freedom  or  bondage,  life 
or  death  to  him.  Half  frantic  at  the  thought  of  recap- 
ture, he  imagined  an  enemy  behind  each  bush,  in  every 
sound  the  tramp  of  pursuing  horsemen. 

It  looked  as  if  his  worst  apprehensions  were  about  to 
be  realised  when  unawares  he  stumbled  upon  a  Moorish 
watering-place.  Before  he  could  retreat  he  was  dis- 
covered by  the  shepherds.  Immediately  there  was  a 
howl  of  execration,  and  he  was  set  upon  with  stones 
and  curses,  and  driven  forth  as  if  he  had  been  a 
prowling  beast  of  prey. 

Thankful  to  have  escaped  unhurt,  Park,  once  rid  of 
the  fanatics,  began  to  be  more  hopeful.  He  was  not  to 
get  away  so  easily,  however.  Suddenly  a  shout  rang 
behind  bidding  him  halt.  He  hardly  needed  to  look 
to  know  the  nature  of  the  danger  that  threatened. 
Three  Moors  on  horseback  were  in  full  pursuit,  fero- 
ciously brandishing  their  weapons,  and  screaming  out 

97 


98 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


threats  as  they  bore  down  on  him.  Escape  was  impos- 
sible— his  jaded  steed  was  beyond  all  urging.  With  the 
dogged  indifference  of  despair  he  turned  and  rode  back 
prepared  for  the  worst.  Unmoved  he  looked  at  the  up- 
raised muskets  of  his  pursuers — almost  unheeding,  so 
benumbed  were  his  faculties,  he  heard  that  they  were 
sent  to  bring  him  back  to  Ali.  In  reality,  however, 
the  Moors  were  robbers,  and  their  object  merely 
plunder. 

On  reaching  a  wood  the  wretches  ordered  their  pri- 
soner to  untie  his  bundle.  Great  was  their  disgust 
to  find  nothing  worth  taking  but  a  cloak.  But  to 
Park  his  cloak  was  the  sole  protection  from  the  rains 
by  day  and  the  mosquitoes  by  night,  and  in  vain  he 
followed  the  robbers,  trying  to  move  their  compassion, 
and  earnestly  begging  them  to  return  the  garment. 
For  sole  reply,  one  of  the  band,  annoyed  at  his  per- 
sistence, presented  a  musket  at  him,  while  another  struck 
his  horse  a  brutal  blow  over  the  head.  There  was  no 
resisting  these  hints,  and  once  more  possessed  by  the 
keen  desire  for  life  and  liberty.  Park  parleyed  no  longer, 
but  turned  and  rode  off. 

The  moment  he  was  out  of  sight  he  struck  into 
the  woods  to  avoid  similar  encounters.  As  he  passed 
on,  the  sense  of  security  growing  ever  stronger  with 
the  passing  night,  his  sanguine  temperament  gradually 
resumed  its  sway.  He  felt  as  one  recovered  from  a 
dangerous  illness  —  he  breathed  freer,  his  limbs  were 
as  if  released  from  cramping  fetters,  while  the  Niger 
magnet  drew  him  on  irresistibly  as  ever.  Life  be- 
came more  desirable,  earth  and  heaven  more  beautiful, 
and  even  the  desert  lost  half  its  terrors.  Beggary  and 
the  miseries  of  the  rainy  season  grew  less  terrible  to 


TO  THE  NIGER. 


99 


face  with  the  gi^owth  of  the  hope  that  the  guerdon  of 
success  was  yet  to  be  won. 

But  man  cannot  live  on  hope  alone.  However  fair 
it  might  paint  the  vision  of  the  future,  it  could  not 
stifle  the  present  demands  of  nature.  Only  too  pain- 
fully Park  awoke  to  the  fact  that  starvation  stared 
him  in  the  face.  He  was  destitute,  and  could  not  buy ; 
unarmed,  and  therefore  could  not  take;  hunted,  and 
therefore  dared  not  beg.  His  every  step  was  beset  with 
innumerable  dangers.  His  one  chance  lay  in  reaching  a 
Bambarra  village,  where  he  would  b  among  the  negroes, 
and  safe  at  least  from  the  Moors. 

To  the  pangs  of  hunger  was  speedily  added  the 
yet  more  painful  agony  of  thirst.  The  sun  overhead 
beat  down  upon  him  from  heavens  of  lurid  brilliancy. 
The  scorching  white  sands,  blinding  to  look  upon,  re- 
flected back  the  heat  as  from  the  mouth  of  a  furnace. 

From  the  tree  tops  not  a  trace  of  human  habitation 
was  to  be  seen.  Alone  patches  of  thick  scrub  and 
hillocks  of  barren  sand  met  the  eye.  In  pushing  on 
lay  the  only  hope  of  escaping  death.  With  his  old 
undaunted  spirit  Park  elected  to  push  on — to  struggle 
while  his  legs  would  carry  him. 

Towards  four  in  the  afternoon  he  came  suddenly  upon 
the  dreaded  yet  welcome  sight  of  a  herd  of  goats.  They 
were  at  once  an  indication  of  a  great  danger,  and  of 
possible  food  and  water.  His  joy  was  great  when  after 
a  cautious  examination  he  discovered  that  the  herd  was 
tended  only  by  two  boys.  With  difficulty  he  approached 
them. 

"  Water  !  water  !  "  he  gasped.  For  answer  the  goat- 
herds showed  their  empty  water-skins,  telling  him  at 
the  same  time  that  no  water  was  to  be  found  in  the 


100 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


woods.  Sick  at  heart  and  well-nigh  exhausted,  Park 
turned  away  to  resume  his  weary  tramp  and  almost 
hopeless  quest. 

Night  was  approaching,  and  already  his  limbs  were 
failing  him.  His  thirst  had  become  intolerable,  and  his 
mouth  was  parched  and  inflamed.  Sudden  attacks  of 
dimness  at  times  came  over  his  eyes,  and  more  than 
once  he  almost  fainted.  Each  moment  it  became  in- 
creasingly clear  that  if  he  did  not  reach  water  before 
the  dawn  of  another  day  he  must  inevitably  perish.  To 
relieve  the  pains  in  his  throat  and  mouth  he  chewed 
the  leaves  of  different  shrubs,  but  only  added  to  his 
agony. 

In  the  evening  he  reached  a  ridge,  and  climbing  a 
tree,  gazed  eagerly  over  the  land — only  a  barren  wilder- 
ness deserted  by  God  and  man  spread  out  before  him. 
"  The  same  dismal  uniformity  of  shrub  and  sand  every- 
where presented  itself,  and  the  horizon  was  as  level  and 
uninterrupted  as  that  of  the  sea." 

The  sun  sank,  and  with  it  went  the  fugitive's  last 
hope.  He  was  too  weak  to  walk,  and  his  horse,  as 
much  exhausted  as  himself,  could  not  carry  him.  Even 
in  his  own  extremity  he  had  yet  a  kind  thought  for  his 
faithful  dumb  companion,  and  that  it  might  the  better 
shift  for  itself  he  took  off  its  bridle.  Even  as  he  did  so 
a  horrid  sensation  of  sickness  and  giddiness  seized  him, 
and  he  fell  on  the  sand,  believing  that  his  last  hour  had 
come. 

In  one  swift  flash  of  thought  he  saw  the  end  of  his 
weary  struggle,  and  with  it  all  his  hopes  of  doing  some- 
thing worthy  of  remembrance.  Then  the  shadow  of 
death  gathered  over  him,  and  he  sank  back  unconscious. 

But  all  was  not  yet  over — for  Park  life  had  still 


TO  THE  NIGER. 


101 


somewhat  in  store  of  work  and  gladness.  With  the 
lowering  o£  the  temperature  and  the  rising  of  the  cool 
night  breeze  he  awoke  from  his  death -like  swoon,  and, 
gathering  himself  together,  he  resolved  to  make  one 
more  attempt  to  keep  death  at  bay.  With  his  old 
strength  of  will,  though  weak  in  limb,  he  staggered 
forward  into  the  darkness  of  night,  which  seemed  only 
too  like  the  prospect  before  him.  A  few  minutes  more 
and  a  flash  of  lightning  illumined  the  surrounding 
landscape.  To  him  that  flash  was  a  promise  of  rain, 
and  gave  birth  to  a  new  hope  that  his  agonies  from 
thirst  would  soon  be  at  an  end.  Soon  flash  followed 
flash,  more  and  more  dazzling,  nearer  and  nearer. 
With  a  painful  eagerness  the  exhausted  wanderer 
watched  the  coming  storm.  He  had  no  further  occasion 
to  struggle  forward.  He  had  but  to  sit  still  and  wait. 
But  what  hopes  and  fears  the  while  !  Would  it  rain  or 
not  1  Would  the  storm  break  on  him,  or  career  past  on 
either  side  1  Another  hour  and  the  answ^er  came.  On 
his  ear  fell  the  welcome  sound  of  trees  bending  before 
the  blast.  His  fevered  face  felt  the  first  cool  puffs  of 
wind.  A  black  column,  dimly  discerned  in  the  dark- 
ness, and  laden  with  moisture,  as  he  thought,  reared 
itself  before  him.  It  blotted  out  earth  and  sky,  and 
tore  onward  borne  on  the  wings  of  the  -wind.  He 
rose  to  meet  and  welcome  it.  His  parched  mouth  was 
opened  to  taste  the  heaven-sent  rain.  When,  oh,  misery  ! 
he  found  himself  enveloped  in  a  suffocating  sandstorm. 
Stricken  with  unutterable  disappointment,  he  sank  to  the 
ground  behind  a  sheltering  bush. 

For  above  an  hour  the  storm  swept  over  him  in 
choking  whirlwinds.  When  it  ceased,  Park  with  un- 
daunted spirit  resumed  his  way  in  the  darkness,  though 


102 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


with  ever  intensifying  thirst,  ever  lessening  strength — 
perilously  near  his  last  struggle. 

Again  the  lightning  flashed  across  the  sky.  He 
hardly  dared  to  hope,  yet,  nevertheless,  he  turned 
his  burning  face  and  stretched  his  shaking  hands  to- 
wards the  advancing  storm-clouds,  that  he  might  feel 
the  fii'st  refreshing  drops.  This  time  there  was  no 
mistake,  and  tearing  off  his  clothes,  he  spread  them 
out  to  collect  the  heaven-sent  rain,  while  all  naked  to 
the  storm,  amid  the  blinding  glare  of  tropic  lightning 
and  the  frightful  crash  of  thunder,  he  sucked  in  the 
moisture  by  every  pore  of  his  body. 

But  he  w^as  only  relieved  of  one  series  of  pangs  to  be 
reminded  that  others  lay  behind — the  miseries  of  star- 
vation had  still  to  be  faced.  There  could  be  no  rest,  no 
sleep  for  him,  till  food  as  well  as  water  was  obtained. 
Accordingly  he  resumed  his  way,  directing  his  footsteps 
by  the  compass,  which  the  frequent  flashes  of  lightning 
enabled  him  to  consult.  Soon  these  welcome  gleams 
ceased,  and  then  he  had  to  stumble  along  as  best  he 
might.  About  two  in  the  morning  a  light  appeared. 
Thinking  it  might  proceed  from  a  negro  town,  he  groped 
about  in  the  darkness  unsuccessfully  trying  to  ascertain 
whether  it  was  so  or  not,  from  corn-stacks  or  other  signs 
of  cultivation.  Other  lights  now  became  visible,  and  he 
began  to  fear  he  had  fallen  upon  a  Moorish  encamp- 
ment. 

Soon  his  worst  doubts  became  certainties,  and  rather 
than  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  late  persecutors  he 
elected  to  face  death  in  the  wilderness.  As  stealthily  as 
possible,  however,  he  tried  to  discover  the  water.  In 
doing  so  a  woman  got  a  glimpse  of  him,  and  her  scream 
brought  up  two  men,  w^ho  passed  quite  close  to  where  he 


TO  THE  NIGER. 


103 


had  crouched  to  hide  himself.  Clearly  this  was  no  place 
for  him,  and  once  more  he  plunged  into  the  sheltering 
woods.  He  had  not  proceeded  far  when  the  loud  croak- 
ing of  frogs  told  him  Avhere  to  slake  his  thirst. 

This  narrow  escape  inspired  Park  to  renewed  exer- 
tions. At  daylight  he  detected  a  pillar  of  smoke  at  a 
distance  of  twelve  miles,  and  towards  it  he  painfully 
plodded.  After  five  hours  of  extreme  toil  the  village 
from  which  the  smoke  arose  was  reached,  and  from  a 
husbandman  he  heard  that  it  was  a  Fulah  village 
belonging  to  Ali.    This  was  unpleasant  news. 

To  enter  might  possibly  mean  return  to  captivity,  yet 
possibly,  too,  he  might  be  allowed  to  go  unmolested. 
Meanwhile  the  immediate  certainty  was  that  he  was 
dying  of  hunger,  and  that  his  position  could  hardly  be 
made  worse.  Determined,  therefore,  to  take  his  chance 
of  the  result,  he  rode  into  the  village.  On  his  applying 
at  the  head  man's  house,  the  door  was  slammed  in  his 
face,  and  his  appeals  for  food  were  unheeded.  Dejectedly 
he  turned  his  horse's  head,  seeing  nothing  before  him  but 
death  in  the  woods.  As  he  was  leaving  the  village  he 
remarked  some  mean  dwellings.  Might  he  not  make 
another  trial.  Hospitality  he  remembered  did  not 
always  prefer  the  dwellings  of  the  rich. 

Prompted  by  the  thought  he  advanced  towards  an 
old  woman  spinning  cotton  in  front  of  her  hut.  By 
signs  he  indicated  that  he  wanted  food,  leaving  his 
haggard  face  and  sunken  eyes  to  tell  the  rest.  Nor  did 
he  appeal  in  vain.  The  hut  was  opened  to  him,  and  such 
food  as  its  owner  could  give  was  placed  in  his  hands. 
The  fii-st  pangs  of  hunger  allayed.  Park's  next  thought 
was  for  the  four-footed  sharer  of  his  toils  and  agonies, 
and  for  it  too  a  speedy  supply  of  corn  wiis  forthcoming. 


104  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Meanwhile  a  dubious  crowd  gathered  outside,  and 
solemnly  debated  w^hat  they  should  do  with  the  stranger 
who  had  thus  appeared  among  them.  Opinion  was 
divided,  however;  and  Park,  seeing  the  danger  of  his 
position,  thought  it  better  to  leave,  however  footsore 
and  weary  he  might  be.  On  seeing  theii-  unbidden 
guest  prepare  to  depart,  the  villagers  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  their  wdsest  course  w^as  to  do  nothing. 

Once  clear  of  the  town,  and  the  boys  and  girls  who 
followed  him  for  some  time,  Park,  who  had  not  slept  for 
moi-e  than  two  days  and  nights,  sought  the  shade  of  a 
sheltering  tree,  and  laid  himself  down  to  rest.  Early 
in  the  afternoon  he  was  awakened  by  two  Fulahs,  but 
without  entering  into  conversation  with  them  he  con- 
tinued his  journey  towards  Bambarra  and  the  Niger. 
It  was  not  till  midnight  that  finding  a  pool  of  rain 
water  he  again  halted.  Sleep,  however,  of  which  he 
stood  teri'ibly  in  need,  was  out  of  the  question.  The 
mosquitoes  assailed  him  in  maddening  myriads,  while 
the  howling  of  wild  beasts  added  to  the  terrors  of  his 
surroundings. 

After  a  miserable  night,  the  day  was  hailed  with  relief 
and  delight.  At  midday  another  Fulah  watering-place 
was  reached,  and  here  Park  w^as  hospitably  received  by 
a  shepherd,  who  gave  him  boiled  corn  and  dates  for 
himself,  and  corn  for  his  horse.  Kesuming  his  journey 
wdth  fast  returning  hope  and  vigour,  the  resolute  traveller 
pushed  on,  determined  to  journey  all  night. 

At  eight  in  the  evening  he  heard  w^a}^farers  approach- 
ing, and  had  to  hide  himself  in  a  thicket,  and  there  hold 
his  horse's  nose  to  prevent  him  neighing.  At  midnight 
the  joyful  sound  of  frogs  apprised  him  of  the  neighbom-- 
hood  of  w^ater.    Having  quenched  his  thirst,  he  sought 


TO  THE  NIGER. 


105 


out  an  open  space  in  the  wood  and  lay  down  to  sleep, 
happily  unmolested  till  near  morning,  when  some  wild 
beasts  compelled  him  to  look  after  the  safety  of  himself 
and  his  animal.  Resuming  his  tramp,  Park  crossed  the 
frontiers  of  Bambaria,  and  felt  for  the  first  time  for 
many  weary  weeks  in  comparative  safety  and  free  from 
the  horrid  Moorish  nightmare  Avhich  had  so  long  haunted 
him.  At  Wawra  he  was  hospitably  received  by  the 
chief  of  the  village,  and  at  last  worn  out  with  excessive 
fatigue  and  starvation,  but  rejoicing  in  the  sweet  new 
sense  of  security,  was  able  to  lay  himself  down  and 
enjoy  the  luxury  of  a  deep  sound  sleep. 

To  Park  ever}i:hing  now  seemed  hopeful  and  en- 
couraging. He  was  destitute  and  alone — a  beggar  in 
the  heart  of  Africa ;  but  now  that  he  had  safely  escaped 
from  the  deserts  of  the  north,  and  from  the  clutches  of 
theii'  fanatical  and  degraded  Moorish  inhabitants,  his 
sanguine  temperament  made  small  account  of  his  per- 
sonal troubles.  It  was  sufficient  to  know  himself  in  a 
land  of  plenty,  with  villages  at  every  mile,  and  among 
a  people  of  kindly  natiu-e. 

His  hopes  were  not  behed.  Everywhere  his  recep- 
tion was  hospitable.  The  ^-illagers  gave  of  their  food 
and  shelter;  the  wayfarers  theii^  company,  assistance, 
guidance,  and  protection.  At  most  places  he  was  not 
recognised  as  being  a  white  man,  but  from  his  strange 
and  destitute  appearance  was  assumed  to  be  a  pilgiim 
from  Mecca,  and  treated  by  the  Faithful  with  the  con- 
sideration such  an  one  deserved.  And  thus  the  days 
passed  on,  ever  bringing  him  nearer  the  goal  of  his 
hopes,  ever  adding  to  his  assurance  that  the  great 
prize  for  which  men  and  nations  had  struggled  for 
three  centui-ies  was  to  be  his. 


106 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER, 


On  the  night  of  the  20th  July,  Park  took  up  his 
quarters  at  a  small  village.  Here  he  was  told  that  he 
would  see  the  Niger — or,  as  the  natives  called  it,  the 
Joliba  or  Great  Waters — on  the  morrow. 

The  thought  was  intoxication,  and  between  it  and  the 
myriad  mosquitoes  that  preyed  upon  his  unprotected 
body,  sleep  was  out  of  the  question.  Before  daylight  he 
was  up  and  doing,  and  had  saddled  his  horse  long  ere 
the  gates  of  the  village  were  opened. 

At  length  he  got  away.  With  eager  eyes  he  looked 
towards  the  south — towards  what  for  many  terrible 
months  had  been  his  Kiblah — his  Mecca.  At  last  he 
was  about  to  be  rewarded  for  all  the  tortures  of  body 
and  mind  he  had  so  heroically  endured,  so  resolutely 
faced. 

The  road  was  crowded  with  natives  hurrying  towards 
the  capital.  Four  large  villages  were  passed,  and  then 
in  the  distance  loomed  up  the  smoke  of  Sego — Sego 
on  the  banks  of  the  Niger !  A  little  further  and  the 
joyful  cry,  "  See  the  water  !  "  announced  to  Park  that 
the  Niger  was  in  sight.  Ay,  truly,  there  it  was,  sweep- 
ing along  in  a  majestic  stream  towards  the  east,  and 
glittering  in  the  bright  rays  of  the  morning  sun. 

One  long  and  ardent  look,  one  sigh  of  supreme  relief, 
and  the  pilgiim  of  geography  hastened  to  the  brink, 
and  after  drinking  of  the  w^ater,  lifted  up  a  fervent 
prayer  to  the  Great  Ruler  of  all  things  for  having  thus 
crowned  his  endeavours  with,  success. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


DOWN  THE  NIGER  TO  SILL  A. 

Thus  was  the  River  Niger  for  the  first  time  reached  by 
an  European,  and  its  eastward  course  determined.  Park 
had  left  England  inclined  if  anything  to  believe  that  it 
flowed  west;  but  during  his  journey  that  opinion  had 
gradually  been  undermined,  and  now  with  his  own  eyes 
he  saw  that  its  course  was  indeed  towards  the  rising  sun. 
There  was  no  further  question  as  to  where  it  took  its 
rise  :  its  termination  w^as  now  the  great  mystery  which 
remained  to  be  cleared  up. 

Sego,  the  capital  of  Bambarra,  at  which  the  white 
traveller  had  arrived,  consisted  of  four  distinct  towns, 
two  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Niger,  and  two  on  the 
south.  Each  was  independently  surrounded  by  high 
mud  walls.  Unlike  the  ordinary  negro  village,  the 
houses  were  square  with  flat  roofs,  and  built  of  mud. 
Some  of  them  were  two  stories  in  height,  and  a  few 
were  whitewashed. 

Besides  these  evidences  of  Arab  influence,  there  w^ere 
mosques  in  every  quarter;  and  the  whole  town,  with 
its  thirty  or  forty  thousand  inhabitants,  presented  an 
air  of  civilisation  and  magnificence  which  Park  was  far 
from  expecting.  The  river  swarmed  with  large  canoes, 
constantly  crossing  and  recrossing;  the  streets  were 
crowded   with   a  busy   population ;    and   the  whole 

107 


108 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


suri-ounding  country  was  in  the  highest  state  of  cul- 
tivation. 

Park  speedily  discovered  that  Mansong,  king  of  Bam- 
barra,  lived  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  and  he 
prepared  at  once  to  cross  and  present  himself  at  court. 
The  crowded  state  of  the  ferry  prevented  him  carrying 
out  his  intention  immediately,  as  he  had  to  wait  his 
turn.  In  the  interval  the  people  gathered  round  him  in 
silent  wonder,  full  of  speculation  as  to  what  could  have 
brought  the  w^hite  man  so  far  from  the  sea.  With  no 
small  apprehension  the  weary  traveller  noticed  among 
the  crowd  a  numerous  sprinkling  of  Moors.  In  each  of 
the  race  he  saw  a  malignant  enemy  who  w^ould  stop  at 
nothing  to  do  him  an  ill  turn,  so  indelible  was  the  im- 
pression produced  on  him  during  his  residence  with  Ali 
at  Benaun. 

An  opportunity  for  crossing  at  last  offered  itself. 
Just  as  he  ^\  ns  about  to  take  advantage  of  it,  a  messenger 
ai  rived  from  the  king  to  intimate  that  he  could  not 
possibly  see  his  intending  visitor  until  he  knew  what  had 
brought  him  into  the  country.  Meanwhile  he  was  on 
no  account  to  presume  to  cross  the  river  without  Man- 
song's  permission,  and  must  lodge  for  the  night  at  a 
distant  village  which  the  messenger  pointed  out. 

This  reception  was  eminently  discouraging.  But 
Paik  was  inured  to  disappointments,  and  happy  in  so 
far  as  he  had  at  least  seen  and  drunk  of  the  waters  of  the 
Niger,  he  could  bear  with  more  equanimity  such  further 
reverses  as  might  be  in  store  for  him.  It  required  all 
his  philosophy  to  sustain  him,  however,  when  on  reach- 
ing the  village  he  was  refused  admittance  at  every  door. 
Every  one  looked  upon  him  with  astonishment  and  fear 
as  a  being  of  unknow^n  species,  whose  power  of  physical 


DOWN  THE  NIGER  TO  SILLA. 


109 


or  spiritual  mischief  was  incalculable,  and  had  better 
not  be  tried  by  closer  contact  than  could  be  helped. 

Thus  shunned  and  boycotted  as  a  human  pariah,  and 
not  knowing  where  to  go  to  seek  shelter,  Park  sat  down 
under  a  tree,  which  at  least  protected  him  from  the  over- 
powering glare  of  the  sun.  Hour  after  hour  passed, 
and  still  no  one  offered  him  food  or  lodging.  The  day 
drew  to  a  close.  The  wind  rose,  and  clouds  gathered 
threateningly  in  the  sky.  Everything  portended  a  night 
of  storm. 

The  sun  fell,  and  still  he  sat  unheeded.  Darkness 
began  to  gather  round  him  with  tropical  swiftness,  and 
he  lost  all  hope  of  moving  the  compassion  of  the  natives 
by  his  forlorn  and  helpless  condition.  To  escape  death 
from  lions  and  hyenas,  he  prepared  to  ensconce  himself 
among  the  branches  of  the  tree.  Before  doing  so  he 
proceeded  to  take  off  the  bridle  and  saddle  from  his 
horse,  that  it  might  have  greater  freedom  and  ease  in 
grazing.  While  thus  engaged  a  woman  returning  from 
her  work  in  the  fields  passed  him.  It  required  no  words 
to  tell  her  the  stranger's  j)light.  His  dress  and  face 
spoke  eloquently  of  weariness,  destitution,  hunger,  and 
dejection.  The  negress  stopped  to  ask  his  story.  A  few 
w^ords  told  all  that  was  necessary  to  move  her  woman's 
heart,  and  without  further  questioning  she  picked  up 
his  saddle  and  bridle  and  bade  him  follow  her  to  her 
hut.  There  she  lighted  a  lamp  and  spread  out  a  mat 
for  her  guest. 

In  a  short  time  a  fine  fish  was  broiling  on  the  embei's 
of  the  fire,  w^hile  the  various  members  of  the  family 
sat  looking  at  the  stranger  in  gaping  wonder.  A  few 
minutes  more  and  Park  had  satisfied  his  hunger  and 
disposed  himself  to  sleep.    The  women  resumed  their 


110  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


work  of  spinning  wool,  and  while  they  worked  they  sang. 
To  sweet  and  plaintive  melody  they  wedded  kindliest 
words,  and  their  guest  was  the  burden  of  their  song  : — 

"  The  winds  roared  and  the  rains  fell, 
The  poor  white  man  sat  under  our  tree  ; 
He  has  no  mother  to  bring  him  milk, 
No  wife  to  grind  his  corn." 

And  oft  recurring  came  the  chorus — 

"Let  us  pity  the  white  man, 
No  mother  has  he."  ^ 

Such,  literally  translated,  were  the  words  of  the  im- 
pi'ovised  song,  and  listening  to  them,  sleep  was  driven 

^  The  following  is  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire's  version  of  the 
above  incident  : — 

"  The  loud  wind  roared,  the  rain  fell  fast, 
The  white  man  yielded  to  the  blast ; 
He  sat  him  down  beneath  a  tree, 
For  weary,  sad,  and  faint  was  he, 
And  ah,  no  wife,  no  mother's  care 
For  him  the  milk  or  corn  prepare. 

Chorus. 

The  white  man  shall  our  pity  share ; 
Alas,  no  wife  or  mother's  care 
For  him  the  milk  or  corn  prepare. 

The  storm  is  o'er,  the  tempest  past. 
And  mercy's  vo  ce  has  hushed  the  blast, 
The  wind  is  heard  in  whispers  low, 
The  white  man  far  away  must  go, 
But  ever  in  his  heart  must  bear 
Remembrance  of  tSie  negro's  care. 

Chorus 

Go,  white  man,  go — but  with  thee  bear 
The  negro's  wish,  the  negro's  prayer, 
Remembrance  of  the  negro's  care." 


DOWN  THE  NIGER  TO  SILL  A. 


Ill 


from  Park's  eyes,  as  he  turned  and  tossed  a  prey  to  the 
liveliest  emotions  of  gratitude.  Far  into  the  night  the 
women  worked,  and  spinning  ever  sang — 

"  Let  us  pity  the  white  man  ; 
No  mother  has  he  ; " 

while  outside  the  tornado  spent  its  violence  in  blinding 
flashes  and  deafening  peals  of  thunder,  in  raging  blasts 
of  wind  and  drenching  showers  of  rain. 

In  the  morning,  as  a  token  of  gratitude.  Park  pre- 
sented his  kindly  hostess  with  two  of  the  four  brass 
buttons  remaining  on  his  waistcoat,  the  sole  articles  he 
possessed  having  any  value  in  native  eyes. 

During  the  day  numerous  rumours  of  the  inimical 
machinations  of  the  Moors  came  to  Park's  ears,  but 
nothing  definite  concerning  Mansong's  decision  as  to 
his  fate. 

On  the  following  morning,  the  22nd,  a  messenger 
arrived  to  inquire  what  present  the  white  man  had 
brought  to  the  king. 

On  the  23rd  another  messenger  arrived,  bearing  the 
king's  refusal  to  give  Park  an  audience.  It  was  accom- 
panied by  a  present  of  five  thousand  cowries — the  cur- 
rency of  the  Sudan  Basin — to  enable  him  to  purchase 
provisions,  while  indicating  that  his  presence  at  Sego 
was  undesirable,  though  he  was  at  liberty  to  proceed 
farther  down  the  Niger,  or  to  return  to  the  Gambia,  as 
he  pleased. 

In  Mansong's  refusal  to  see  him.  Park  could  only  see 
the  "  blind  and  inveterate  malice  of  the  Moorish  inhabi- 
tants," though  he  could  not  but  admit  that  the  manner 
of  his  appearance  among  the  people  of  Sego,  and  the  to 
them  incredible  explanation  of  the  object  of  his  journey, 

H 


112 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


warranted  suspicion.  To  see  the  Joliba !  Absurd  ! 
Were  there  then  no  rivers  in  the  white  man's  own 
country  that  he  should  face  such  hardships  and  dangers 
to  see  ours  1  There  must  be  something  else  behind. 
Send  him  away,  but  being  destitute,  let  us  supply  his 
wants,  so  that  the  stigma  of  his  death  lie  not  at  our 
doors.  Such,  it  may  be  presumed,  was  Mansong's  mode 
of  reasoning,  and  such  naturally  the  conclusion  he 
arrived  at. 

Park  was  now  called  upon  to  make  up  his  mind  as 
to  his  future  course.  Would  he  go  on  or  turn  back  ? 
Surely  he  might  return  with  all  honour  now  that  he 
had  reached  the  Niger  itself.  Destitute  as  he  was,  what 
could  he  do  ?  And  yet  it  was  hard  to  have  to  retrace 
his  steps  with  such  a  glorious  work  before  him.  No,  on- 
ward at  least  some  distance  he  must  go,  to  see  and  learn 
something  more  of  the  river's  course  and  termination, 
perchance  even  to  reach  Timbuktu. 

Park  did  not  reach  this  conclusion  without  some  mis- 
giving, for  he  heard  vague  repoits  that  the  farther  east 
he  proceeded  the  more  numerous  became  the  Arab  tribes, 
and  that  Timbuktu  itself  was  in  the  hands  of  ^'  that 
savage  and  merciless  people."  Whatever  his  horror  of 
the  Moors  might  be,  however,  he  could  not  let  his  plans 
be  stopped  by  "  such  vague  and  uncertain  information, 
and  determined  to  proceed." 

Thus  dauntlessly  did  our  hero  gather  his  rags  about 
him,  and  with  his  bag  of  cowries  proceed  on  the  24th  on 
the  exploration  of  the  Niger  River.  On  the  first  day  he 
passed  through  a  highly  cultivated  country,  resembling 
the  park  scenery  of  England.  The  people  were  every- 
where collecting  the  fruit  of  the  Shea  tree,  from  which 
the  vegetable  butter  so  named  is  produced.    Park  found 


BAMBARRA  WOMEN  POUNDING  CORN. 


DOWN  THE  NIGER  TO  SILLA. 


113 


the  Shea  butter  whiter  and  firmer,  and  to  his  palate  of 
a  richer  flavour,  than  the  best  butter  he  ever  tasted  made 
from  cow's  milk — a  strange  statement  certainly,  since 
to  the  palates  of  degenerate  travellers  and  traders  of 
the  present  day  its  taste  is  abominable.  Even  among 
the  natives  it  is  only  used  by  the  very  poorest  for 
cooking  purposes,  being  considered  infinitely  inferior  to 
palm  oil. 

In  the  evening  Park  reached  Sansanding,  a  town  of 
some  two  thousand  inhabitants,  largely  resorted  to  by 
Moors  from  Biru  engaged  in  exchanging  salt  and  the 
commodities  of  the  north  for  cotton  cloth  and  gold  dust. 
To  slip  as  quietly  into  the  town  as  possible.  Park  passed 
along  the  riverside,  and  by  the  natives  was  everywhere 
taken  to  be  a  Moor.  At  length  a  real  Moor  discovered 
the  mistake,  and  by  his  exclamations  brought  a  crowd 
of  his  countrymen  about  the  stranger. 

Amid  the  shouting  and  gesticulating  mob  Park  con- 
trived to  reach  the  house  of  Counti  Mamadi,  the  Dute  of 
the  place.  The  Moors,  with  their  customary  arrogance 
and  assumption  of  superiority,  pushed  aside  the  negroes, 
and  began  to  ask  questions  concerning  Park's  religion. 
Finding  that  he  understood  Arabic,  they  brought  two 
men  whom  they  called  Jews,  and  who  in  dress  and 
appearance  resembled  the  Arabs,  and  were  said  to  con- 
form so  far  to  Islam  as  to  recite  in  public  prayers 
from  the  Koran.  The  Moors  insisted  that  the  strane^er 
should  do  the  same  as  the  Jews.  He  tried  to  put  off 
the  subject  by  declaring  that  he  could  not  speak  Arabic, 
when  a  sherif  from  Tawat  started  up  and  swore  by  the 
Prophet  that  if  the  Christian  refused  to  go  to  the 
mosque,  and  there  acknowledge  the  One  God  and  His 
Prophet,  he  would  have  him  carried  thither. 


114 


MUXGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Willing  hands  were  ready  to  cany  out  this  determina- 
tion, but  happily  the  Dute  interfered,  and  declared  the 
white  stranger  should  not  be  ill  treated  while  under  his 
protection.  This  stopped  immediate  violence,  but  did 
not  end  the  persecution.  The  crowd  continued  to  swell, 
and  gi-ew  ever  more  ungovernable.  The  clamour  and 
excitement  intensified  every  minute.  Every  coign  of 
vantage  was  covered  with  multitudes  eager  to  see  the 
newcomer.  That  every  one  might  be  gratified  he  was 
compelled  to  ascend  a  high  seat  near  the  door  of  the 
mosque,  where  he  had  to  remain  till  sunset,  when  he  was 
permitted  to  descend  and  seek  refuge  in  a  neat  little 
hut  having  a  coui-t  in  front  of  it.  Even  here,  however, 
he  found  neither  peace  nor  quiet.  The  Moors,  though 
in  the  country  only  as  traders,  seemed  to  be  allowed  to 
do  veiy  much  as  they  liked.  They  climbed  over  the  court 
walls  and  invaded  Park's  privacy,  desirous,  as  they  said, 
of  seeing  him  at  his  evening  devotions,  and  also  eating 
eggs.  The  latter  operation  Park  was  by  no  means  Toth 
to  accomplish,  though  the  intruders  were  disappointed 
on  discovering  that  he  only  ate  them  cooked. 

It  was  not  until  after  midnight  that  the  Arabs  left 
the  traveller  alone.  His  host  then  asked  him  for  a 
charm  in  writing,  which  was  at  once  supplied  in  the 
form  of  the  Lord's  Prayer= 

From  Sansanding,  Park  proceeded  to  Sibila,  and 
thence  to  Nyara,  where  he  stayed  on  the  27th  to  wash 
his  clothes  and  rest  his  horse. 

At  Xyami,  a  town  inhabited  chiefly  by  Fulahs,  the 
head  man  refused  to  see  Park,  and  sent  his  son  to  guide 
him  to  Madibu. 

Between  the  two  \'illages  the  travellers  had  to  pro- 
ceed with  veiy  great  caution,  as  the  district  was  noto- 


DOWN  THE  NIGER  TO  SILLA. 


115 


rious  for  its  dangers  from  wild  beasts.  A  giraffe  was 
seen,  and  shortly  afterwards,  in  crossing  a  broad  open 
plain  with  scattered  bushes,  the  guide  who  was  ahead 
suddenly  espied  traces  of  a  lion  in  the  path,  and  called 
loudly  to  Park  to  ride  off.  His  horse,  however,  was  too 
exhausted  for  flight,  and  he  continued  to  ride  slowly  on. 
He  was  just  beginning  to  think  that  it  had  been  a  false 
alarm,  when  a  cry  from  the  guide  made  him  look  up  in 
renewed  trepidation.  There  was  the  lion  lying  near  a 
bush,  with  his  head  couched  between  his  fore-paws.  To 
fly  was  impossible.  Instinctively  Park  drew  his  feet 
from  his  stirrups,  to  be  ready  to  slip  off  and  leave  the 
horse  to  bear  the  first  onslaught  if  the  lion  should  spring. 
AVith  eyes  riveted  on  the  enemy  he  slowly  advanced, 
expecting  each  moment  that  the  lion  would  be  upon  him. 
The  brute  did  not  move,  however,  having  probably  just 
dined,  and  being  in  a  peaceful  mood  in  consequence. 
All  the  same  Park  was  so  held  by  a  soit  of  wild  fasci- 
nation that  he  found  it  impossible  to  remove  his  gaze 
until  he  was  a  considerable  distance  out  of  danger. 

To  avoid  any  more  such  perils,  Pai-k  took  a  ciiTuitous 
route  through  some  swampy  ground,  and  at  sunset 
safely  entered  Madibu.  This  village  was  perched  on  the 
banks  of  the  Niger,  of  whose  majestic  stream  it  com- 
manded a  splendid  view  for  many  miles — a  view  further 
varied  by  several  small  gieen  islands  occupied  by  Fulah 
herds. 

Here  life  was  rendered  almost  unendurable  by  mos- 
quitoes, which  rose  in  such  myriads  from  the  swamps 
and  creeks  as  to  harass  even  the  most  thick-skinned  and 
torpid  of  .the  natives.  The  nights  M  ere  one  continuous 
maddening  torture,  Park's  rags  affording  him  no  pro- 
tection from  their  attacks.     Unable  to  sleep,  he  had 


116 


MUXGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


to  keep  ceaselessly  walking  backwards  and  forwards, 
fanning  himself  with  his  hat  to  drive  off  his  pertinacious 
tormentors.  Nevertheless,  by  morning,  Ms  legs,  arms, 
neck,  and  face  were  covered  with  blisters.  Xo  wonder, 
under  such  circumstances,  that  he  grew  feverish  and 
uneasy,  and  threatened  to  become  seriously  ill.  Per- 
ceiving this,  the  Dute  of  Madibu  hurried  him  off,  lest 
he  should  die  on  his  hands. 

Park's  horse  was  as  little  able  to  carry  him  as  he  to 
walk.  They  had  not  struggled  on  many  miles  before 
the  poor  animal  slipped  and  fell,  and  do  what  Park 
might,  was  not  to  be  got  up  again.  In  vain  he  waited  in 
the  hope  that  after  a  rest  the  horse  might  come  round. 
In  the  end  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  take  off 
saddle  and  bridle,  place  a  quantity  of  grass  before  him, 
and  then  leave  him  to  his  fate.  At  the  sight  of  the  poor 
brute  lying  panting  on  the  gi^ound  his  owner  could  not 
suppress  a  foreboding  that  he  likewise  before  long  would 
lie  down  and  perish  of  hunger  and  fatigue.  Oppressed 
wdth  melancholy,  many  fears,  and  only  too  numerous 
physical  ills,  he  staggered  on  till  noon,  when  he  reached 
the  small  fi.shing  village  of  Kea. 

The  head  man  was  sitting  at  the  gate  as  he  entered, 
and  to  him  he  told  his  story  of  destitution  and  sickness. 
But  he  spoke  to  one  of  surly  countenance  and  crabbed 
heart,  and  his  sole  reply  to  the  half  dead  stranger  was 
to  bid  him  begone  from  his  door. 

The  guide  remonstrated,  and  Park  entreated,  but  all 
to  no  purpose.    The  Dute  was  inflexible. 

At  this  juncture  a  fishing  canoe  arrived  on  its  way 
to  Silla,  whereupon,  to  put  an  end  to  further  parley,  the 
Dut6  desired  the  owner  to  convey  the  stranger  to  that 
place.    This,  after  some  hesitation,  the  fishennan  con- 


DOWN  THE  NIGEK  TO  SILLA. 


117 


sented  to  do.  Before  setting  forth  Park  asked  his  guide 
to  see  to  his  horse  on  the  way  back,  and  take  care  of 
him  if  he  was  still  alive. 

In  the  evening  he  reached  Silla.  Hoping  that  some 
one  would  take  compassion  on  him,  he  seated  himself 
beneath  a  tree,  but  though  surrounded  by  wondering 
hundreds,  no  one  offei-ed  him  hospitality.  E,ain  begin- 
ning to  come  on,  the  Dute  w^as  at  length  prevailed  upon 
by  Park's  entreaties  to  let  him  sleep  in  one  of  his  huts. 
The  hut  was  damp,  and  a  sharp  attack  of  fever  was  the 
result.  Let  the  traveller  describe  his  situation  at  this 
juncture  in  his  own  words. 

"  Worn  down  by  sickness,  exhausted  wath  hunger  and 
fatigue,  half  naked,  and  without  any  article  of  value 
by  which  I  might  get  provisions,  clcthes,  or  lodging,  I 
began  to  reflect  seriously  on  my  situation. 

"  I  was  now  convinced  by  painful  experience  that  the 
obstacles  to  my  further  progress  were  insurmountable. 
The  tropical  rains  were  already  set  in  with  all  their 
violence,  the  rice  grounds  and  swamps  were  everywhere 
overflowed,  and  in  a  few  days  more  travelling  of  every 
kind,  unless  by  water,  would  be  completely  obstructed. 
The  cowries  which  remained  of  the  King  of  Bambarra's 
present  Avere  not  sufiicient  to  enable  me  to  hire  a  canoe 
for  any  great  distance,  and  I  had  but  little  hopes  of 
subsisting  by  charity  in  a  country  where  the  Moors 
have  such  influence. 

"  But  above  all,  I  perceived  that  I  was  advancing  more 
and  more  within  the  power  of  those  merciless  fanatics, 
and  from  my  reception  both  at  Sego  and  Sansanding 
I  was  apprehensive  that  in  attempting  to  reach  even 
Jenne  (unless  under  the  protection  of  some  man  of 
consequence  amongst  them,  which  I  had  no  means  of 


118 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


obtaining),  I  should  sacrifice  my  life  to  no  purpose,  for 
my  discoveries  would  perish  with  me. 

With  this  conviction  on  my  mind,  I  hope  my  readers 
will  acknowledge  that  I  did  right  in  going  no  farther. 
I  had  made  every  effort  to  execute  my  mission  in  its 
fullest  extent  which  prudence  could  justify.  Had  there 
been  the  most  distant  prospect  of  a  successful  termina- 
tion, neither  the  unavoidable  hardships  of  the  journey, 
nor  the  danger  of  a  second  captivity,  should  have  forced 
me  to  desist.  This,  however,  necessity  compelled  me  to 
do ;  and  whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  my  general 
readers  on  this  point,  it  affords  me  inexpressible  satis- 
faction that  my  honourable  employers  have  been  pleased 
since  my  return  to  express  their  full  approbation  of  my 
conduct." 

And  who  will  not  cordially  coincide  in  their  verdict  ? 
Never  had  a  mission  been  more  determinedly  carried 
out,  nor  such  inexhaustible  patience  and  endurance 
shown  in  the  face  of  every  conceivable  hardship,  in- 
dignity, and  danger — all  of  which  were  counted  by 
the  sufferer  as  naught  compared  with  the  inexpressible 
pleasure  of  achieving  something  of  the  task  he  had  been 
despatched  to  accomplish. 

When  he  thus  made  up  his  mind  to  return  to  the 
coast,  Park  had  followed  the  Niger  a  distance  of  over 
eighty  miles  fi-om  Sego,  finding  that  it  still  maintained 
its  easterly  course.  In  addition,  he  gathered  from  various 
traders  the  fact  that  it  continued  in  the  same  direction 
for  four  days'  journey  more,  when  it  expanded  into  a 
lake  of  considerable  size,  named  Dibbie,  or  The  Dark 
Lake." 

From  Dibbie  (Debo)  the  Niger  was  said  to  di\ade 
into  two  branches,  enclosing  a  large  tract  of  land  called 


DOWN  THE  NIGER  TO  SILLA. 


119 


Jinbala,  and  uniting  again  after  a  north-easterly  course 
near  Kabra,  the  port  "  of  Timbuktu.  From  Jenn^  to 
the  latter  place  the  distance  by  land  was  twelve  days' 
journey. 

From  Kabra,  Park  does  not  seem  certain — at  least  he 
does  not  make  it  clear — what  course  the  Niger  took, 
though  he  correctly  enough  states  that  at  the  distance 
of  eleven  days'  journey  it  passes  to  the  south  of  Haussa 
(probably  what  is  now  known  as  Eirni-n-Kebbi,  a  large 
town  in  Gandu,  one  of  the  Haussa  States).  Beyond 
this  nothing  further  was  known.  It  seems  evident, 
however,  that  Park  confounded  the  course  of  the  Niger 
with  that  of  its  great  eastern  tributary  the  Benue,  as 
had  most  of  the  geographers  before  him ;  and  so  was  led 
astray  from  seeking  for  its  natural  termination  in  the 
Atlantic. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE  RETURN  THROUGH  BAMBARRA. 

Park's  resolution  to  return  to  the  coast  was  taken  on 
the  29th  July  1796.  His  hope  of  accomplishing  this 
purpose  in  safety  seemed  almost  as  desperate  as  the  task 
of  going  forward.  Before  him  lay  a  journey  on  foot  of 
eleven  hundred  miles  in  a  straight  line,  to  which  must 
be  added  an  additional  five  hundred  for  deviations  and 
the  windings  of  the  road.  He  had  thus  before  him 
nineteen  hundred  miles  on  foot  through  a  barbarous 
country,  where  the  stranger  w^as  considered  fair  prey, 
and  the  laws  afforded  him  no  protection  from  violence. 
He  was  without  the  wherewithal  to  buy  food,  and  had 
only  rags  to  shield  him  from  the  violence  of  the  weather 
and  the  maddening  onslaughts  of  mosquitoes.  In  addi- 
tion he  had  to  face  all  the  horrors  of  the  tropic  winter, 
tornadoes  of  w^ind,  rain,  and  thunder  overhead,  swamps 
and  mire  under  foot,  and  flooded  streams  barring  the 
way  at  every  turn.  The  hardships  were  sufficient  to 
have  killed  any  man  of  less  indomitable  spirit  and 
weaker  frame.  Even  Park  would  probably  have  suc- 
cumbed, but  that  he  could  not  die  while  his  discoveries 
remained  uncommunicated  to  his  employers  and  the 
public.  Till  then  his  work  was  only  half  done.  With 
his  death  it  would  be  wholly  undone — all  his  toil  and 
suffering  in  vain.    To  reach  the  coast  was  therefore  now 


THE  KETURN  THROUGH  BAMBARRA.  121 


a  point  of  as  much  importance  as  formerly  it  had  been 
to  see  the  Niger. 

His  mind  once  made  up,  Park  acted  with  prompti- 
tude and  resolution. 

He  arrived  at  Silla  on  the  29th  July.  The  night 
sufficed  to  determine  his  course,  and  morning  saw  the 
commencement  of  his  return  journey.  It  behoved  him 
indeed  to  waste  no  time.  A  few  days  more  and  the 
country  would  be  impassable  by  land  on  account  of  the 
flooded  rivers.  Already  it  was  so  on  the  southern  side 
of  the  Niger — a  fact  Park  much  regretted,  as  he  had 
hoped  to  return  by  that  way. 

Crossing  to  Murzan  by  one  canoe,  he  was  there 
enabled  to  hire  another  to  Kea.  Here  he  was  permitted 
to  sleep  in  the  hut  of  one  of  the  head  man's  slaves,  who, 
seeing  him  sick  and  destitute  of  clothes,  compassionately 
covered  him  with  a  large  cloth. 

Next  day,  in  proceeding  to  Madibu  with  the .  head 
man's  brother,  he  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a  pecu- 
liar instance  of  the  native  respect  for  private  property 
under  some  circumstances.  A  large  pile  of  earthenware 
jars  were  lying  on  the  bank  of  the  river.  They  had  been 
found  there  two  years  before,  and  as  no  one  had  ever 
claimed  them,  they  were  believed  to  belong  to  some 
supernatural  power.  People  passing  invariably  threw  a 
handful  of  grass  upon  them,  which  Park  thinks  was  to 
protect  them  from  the  rain,  but  more  likely  was  meant 
as  a  propitiatory  gift  to  the  spii^it — the  practice  being 
common  over  all  Central  Africa. 

Some  time  after  passing  the  jars  the  fresh  footprints  of 
a  lion  were  discovered.  The  travellers  had  accordingly  to 
proceed  with  very  great  caution.  Nearing  a  thick  wood 
where  the  dangerous  brute  was  supposed  to  have  its 


122 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


lair,  the  guide  insisted  that  Park  should  lead  the  way. 
Unarmed  as  he  was,  the  latter  naturally  objected,  and 
urged  further  that  he  did  not  know  the  road.  High 
words  followed,  which  ended  in  the  desertion  of  the 
negro. 

There  was  nothing  for  it  now  but  to  proceed  alone, 
lion  or  no  lion.  With  no  small  trepidation  Park  passed 
between  the  wood  and  the  river,  expecting  every  moment 
to  be  attacked.  Happily  he  was  left  to  pursue  his  way 
unmolested,  and  reached  Madibu  late  in  the  afternoon. 
Here  he  was  joined  by  the  deserter.  While  in  the  act 
of  remonstrating  with  him  for  his  recent  conduct,  a  horse 
commenced  to  neigh  in  a  neighbouring  hut.  With  a 
smile  the  head  man  asked  Park  if  he  knew  who  was 
speaking  to  him,  and  showed  him  the  horse,  which 
turned  out  to  be  no  other  than  the  traveller's  own,  very 
much  improved  by  its  rest. 

Next  day  Park  re-entered  Nyami,  and  there  was 
practically  imprisoned  by  three  days'  continuous  rain, 
the  after  results  of  which  he  had  the  most  serious 
reasons  to  fear.  Nor  were  his  apprehensions  belied. 
AVhen  he  left  Nyami  the  country  was  deluged,  the  fields 
knee  deep  in  water  for  miles  together,  and  the  pathways 
undiscoverable.  Where  not  actually  submerged  the  land 
was  one  great  quagmire,  in  which  Park's  horse  stuck 
more  than  once,  and  had  almost  to  be  abandoned. 

Next  day  the  rain  fell  in  torrents,  detaining  him 
again,  and  making  travelling  almost  impossible.  With 
difficulty  he  plunged  and  floundered  a  few  miles  through 
a  swamp  breast  deep  in  water,  and  managed  at  length  to 
reach  a  small  Fulah  village. 

With  tracks  obliterated  and  the  country  thus  flooded, 
it  now  became  imperative  that  he  should  not  travel 


THE  EETURX  THROUGH  BAMBARRA.  123 


alone.  iS^o  giiide,  however,  was  to  be  found  to  show 
him  the  way  and  assist  him  at  difficult  places. 

For  some  distance  he  accompanied  a  Moor  and  his 
wife  who  were  proceeding  to  Sego  with  salt.  They  rode 
on  bullocks,  and  proved  to  be  as  helpless  as  himself. 
At  one  place  one  of  the  bullocks  suddenly  fell  into  a 
hole  in  a  morass,  and  sent  both  salt  and  wife  into  the 
water. 

At  sunset  he  readied  Sibity,  where  an  inhospitable 
reception  awaited  him.  A  damp  old  hut  was  all  he 
could  get  in  which  to  pass  the  night.  Each  moment  he 
expected  to  see  the  rotten  clay  roof  fall  in — a  common 
occurrence  at  the  commencement  of  the  rainy  season. 
On  all  sides  he  heard  the  sound  of  similar  catastrophes, 
and  in  the  morning  counted  the  wreck  of  fourteen 
dwellings. 

Throughout  the  following  day  it  continued  to  rain 
violently,  making  travelling  out  of  the  question. 

On  the  nth  August,  the  head  man  compelled  Park 
to  move  on.  A  new  danger,  it  appeared,  had  fallen  on 
his  trouble-strewn  way.  It  had  got  abroad  that  he  was 
a  spy,  and  not  in  favour  with  the  king — a  report  suffi- 
cient to  close  each  head  man's  door  against  him,  and 
extinguish  every  hospitable  feeling  in  the  naturally 
kindly  heart  of  the  negro.  He  was  now  an  object  not 
merely  to  be  treated  with  passive  indifference,  but 
actively  shunned  as  a  possible  danger  to  whomsoever 
should  have  dealings  with  him. 

With  no  small  foreboding  he  re-entered  Sansanding. 
Counti  Mamadi,  who  formerly  had  protected  him  from 
the  Moors,  would  now  have  nothing  to  do  with  him, 
and  desired  him  to  depart  early  in  the  morning.  That 
the  head  man  in  thus  acting  did  \4olence  to  his  own 


124 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


natuml  kindliness  was  sufficiently  shown  by  his  coming 
privately  to  Park  during  the  night  and  warning  him 
of  the  dangerous  situation  he  was  in.  Especially  he 
advised  him  to  avoid  going  near  Sego. 

This  unpleasantly  altered  state  of  matters  was  further 
illustrated  when  arri\ing  next  day  at  Kabba,  he  was 
met  outside  the  town  by  a  party  of  negroes,  who  seized 
his  hoi  se's  bridle,  and  in  spite  of  his  remonstrances,  con- 
ducted him  round  the  walls,  and  ordered  him  to  continue 
his  way  lest  worse  should  befall  him.  A  few  miles  further 
on  he  reached  a  small  village,  but  found  no  better  recep- 
tion. On  his  attempting  to  enter,  the  head  man  seized 
a  stick  and  threatened  to  knock  him  down  if  he  moved 
another  step.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  proceed 
to  another  \allage,  where  happily  some  women  were 
moved  to  compassion  by  his  destitute  appearance,  and 
contrived  to  get  him  a  night's  lodging. 

On  the  13th,  he  reached  a  small  village  close  to  Sego, 
where  he  endeavoured  in  vain  to  procure  some  provi- 
sions. He  heard,  moreover,  that  there  were  orders  out 
to  apprehend  him,  and  it  was  clear  that  it  would  be 
highly  dangerous  for  him  to  remain  an  hour  where  he 
was.  He  accordingly  pushed  on  through  high  grassy 
and  swampy  ground  till  noon,  when  he  stopped  to  con- 
sider what  route  he  should  now  pursue.  All  seemed 
alike  bad,  but  everything  considered,  he  elected  to  pro- 
ceed westward  along  the  Niger,  and  ascertain  if  possible 
how  far  it  was  navigable  in  that  direction. 

For  the  next  three  days  his  journey  was  unattended 
with  any  worse  hardship  than  having  to  live  upon  raw 
corn,  lodging  for  the  night  having  been  obtained  without 
much  difficulty.  It  was  different,  however,  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  15th,  when,  on  his  arrival  at  the  small  village 


THE  EETUKN  THROUGH  BAMBARRA.  125 


of  Song,  he  was  refused  admittance  within  the  gates. 
The  numerous  footprints  which  he  had  seen  while  on  the 
march  had  made  it  abundantly  clear  that  the  country- 
was  infested  with  lions.  The  prospect  of  spending  the 
night  in  the  open  without  means  of  defence  was  there- 
fore anything  but  pleasant;  but  it  had  to  be  faced. 
Hungry  and  weary  himself,  he  could  still  think  of  his 
horse,  and  he  set  about  gathering  grass  for  him.  With 
nightfall,  no  one  having  offered  him  food  or  shelter, 
he  lay  down  under  a  tree  close  to  the  gate,  but  dared 
not  allow  himself  to  sleep.  With  leaden  shoon  the 
minutes  passed.  Every  sound  was  a  note  of  danger, 
and  in  a  state  of  painful  alertness  the  outcast  wanderer 
peered  into  the  blackness  of  night,  ever  expecting  to  see 
a  creeping  form,  or  the  glitter  of  two  fierce  eyes. 

At  length,  some  time  before  midnight,  a  hollow  roar 
suddenly  resounded  through  the  wood,  apparently  com- 
ing from  no  great  distance.  In  the  darkness  he  could 
see  nothing,  strain  as  he  might.  To  sit  thus  defenceless 
awaiting  his  doom,  yet  not  knowing  when  or  whence 
it  would  come,  was  intolerable,  and  driven  frantic  at  last 
by  the  horror  of  his  situation,  he  rushed  to  the  gate, 
and  madly  tugged  at  it  with  all  the  energy  of  one  who 
struggles  for  dear  life.  In  vain,  his  utmost  efforts  were 
as  little  able  to  move  it  as  were  his  urgent  appeals  to 
touch  the  hearts  of  the  natives. 

Meanwhile  the  lion  was  all  unseen  prowling  round 
the  village,  ever  lessening  its  circle  and  drawing  nearer 
its  prey.  At  last  a  rustle  among  the  grass  warned  Park 
of  its  whereabouts  and  dangerous  proximity.  A  moment 
more  and  he  would  be  in  its  fatal  clutches.  His  sole 
chance  now  lay  in  reaching  a  neighbouring  tree.  With  a 
nish  he  gained  and  climb^d  it,  and  then  feeling  compara- 

I 


126 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


tively  safe  among  the  sheltering  branches,  he  prepared 
to  pass  the  night  there.  A  little  later,  however,  the 
head  man  opened  the  gate  and  invited  the  stranger  to 
come  within  the  walls,  as  he  was  now  satisfied  that  he 
was  not  a  Moor,  none  of  whom  ever  waited  any  time 
outside  a  village  without  cursing  it  and  all  it  contained. 

From  Song  the  country  began  to  rise  into  hills,  and 
the  summits  of  high  mountains  could  be  seen  ahead. 
Even  here,  however,  travelling  continued  to  be  a  matter 
of  toil  and  danger,  all  the  hollows  through  which  the 
road  ran  being  transformed  into  nasty  swamps.  At 
one  point  Park  and  his  horse  fell  headlong  into  an  un- 
seen pit,  and  were  almost  drowned  before,  covered  with 
mud,  they  succeeded  in  emerging.  One  of  the  worst 
features  of  such  occurrences  was  the  danger  he  incurred 
of  losing  his  notes,  or  finding  them  rendered  useless — a 
misfortune  which  would  have  gone  far  to  bring  the 
results  of  his  toil  to  naught. 

After  the  above  mishap.  Park  rode  through  Yamina, 
a  half -ruined  town  covering  as  much  space  as  Sansanding. 
Many  Moors  were  sitting  about,  and  everybody  watched 
him  passing  with  astonishment. 

Next  day  the  road  quitted  the  Niger  plain  and  skirted 
the  side  of  a  hill.  From  this  higher  elevation  the  whole 
country  had  the  aspect  of  an  extensive  lake. 

His  next  journey  brought  him  to  the  Frina,  a  deep 
and  rapid  tributary  of  the  Niger.  He  was  preparing 
to  swim  across  when  he  was  stopped  by  a  native,  who 
^  warned  him  that  both  he  and  his  horse  would  be  devoured 
by  crocodiles.  On  his  hastily  withdrawing  from  the 
water,  the  man,  who  had  never  seen  a  European  before, 
and  now  saw  one  minus  his  clothes,  put  his  hand  to 
his  mouth,  as  is  the  fashion  among  most  negroes  of 


THE  RETURN  THROUGH  BAMBARRA.  127 


expressing  astonishment,  and  uttered  a  smothered,  awe- 
stricken  exclamation.  He  did  not  run  away,  however, 
and  by  his  assistance  the  proper  ferry  was  found,  and 
Park  safely  landed  on  the  opposite  bank. 

In  the  evening  the  traveller  arrived  at  Taffara,  where 
he  met  with  a  most  inhospitable  reception.  This  was 
partly  due  to  the  fact  that  a  new  head  man  was  being 
elected.  No  one  would  take  him  in,  and  he  was  com- 
pelled to  sit  under  the  palaver  tree  supperless,  and 
exposed  to  all  the  rude  violence  of  a  tornado.  At  mid- 
night the  negro  who  had  shown  Park  the  way — himself 
a  stranger  to  the  village — shared  his  supper  with  him. 

On  the  following  march  Park  was  glad  to  appease 
his  hunger  with  the  husks  of  corn.  At  a  village  further 
on  he  found  the  head  man  of  the  place  in  a  bad  temper 
over  the  death  of  a  slave  boy,  whose  burial  he  was  super- 
intending. The  process  was  sufficiently  summary.  A 
hole  having  been  dug  in  the  field,  the  corpse  of  the  boy 
was  dragged  out  by  a  leg  and  an  arm  and  thrown  with 
savage  indifference  into  the  grave.  As  there  seemed  to 
be  no  chance  of  procuring  food.  Park  rode  on  to  a  place 
called  Kulikorro,  where  his  reception  was  more  kindly. 
Here  he  found  he  could  relieve  his  wants  by  writing 
saphias  or  charms  for  the  simple  natives.  The  charm 
being  written  on  a  board,  the  ink  was  then  washed  off 
and  swallowed,  so  as  to  secure  the  full  virtue  of  the 
writing.  The  practice  is  taken  from  the  more  ignorant 
of  the  Arabs,  who  think  that  by  drinking  the  ink  used 
in  writing  the  name  of  Allah  or  prayers  from  the  Koran 
they  will  derive  a  spiritual  or  material  good. 

Thanks  to  the  demand  for  charms  of  this  nature.  Park 
was  enabled  to  enjoy  the  first  good  meal  and  night's 
rest  he  had  known  for  many  days. 


128 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


On  the  second  day  from  Kulikorro  he  was  directed  on 
the  wrong  road,  whereby  he  was  brought  late  in  the  after- 
noon to  a  deep  creek,  which  there  w^as  nothing  for  it  but 
to  swim,  spite  of  the  danger  of  being  seized  by  crocodiles. 
This  he  did,  holding  the  bridle  of  his  horse  in  his  teeth, 
and  carrying  his  precious  notes  in  the  crown  of  his  hat. 
An  obstacle  of  this  kind,  however,  was  but  a  small 
matter  to  Park,  who  between  rain  and  dew  was  now 
rarely  dry,  while  the  mud  with  which  he  was  only  too 
frequently  bespattered  made  a  swim  both  pleasant  and 
necessary. 

On  this  day's  march  the  Kiger  was  remarked  to  be 
flowing  between  rocky  banks  with  great  rapidity  and 
noise,  so  that  a  European  boat  would  have  had  some 
difficulty  in  crossing  the  stream. 

Bammaku  was  reached  in  the  evening  of  the  23rd 
August,  and  proved  to  be  a  disappointment  in  the  matter 
of  size,  though  its  inhabitants  were  remarkably  well  off 
on  account  of  its  being  a  resting-place  for  the  Arab  salt 
merchants.  The  Moors  here  were  unusually  civil  to  the 
traveller,  and  sent  him  some  rice  and  milk. 

The  information  Park  obtained  at  Bammaku  as  to  his 
further  route  was  anything  but  encouraging.  The  road 
was  declared  to  be  impassable.  Moreover,  the  path 
crossed  the  Joliba  at  a  point  half  a  day's  journey  west 
of  Bammaku,  where  no  canoes  were  to  be  had  large 
enough  to  carry  his  horee.  With  no  money  to  support 
him,  it  was  useless  to  think  of  remaining  at  Bammaku 
for  some  months.  He  therefore  made  up  his  mind  to 
go  on,  and  if  his  horse  could  not  be  got  across  the  river, 
to  abandon  it  and  swim  across  alone. 

In  the  morning,  however,  he  heard  from  his  landlord 
of  another  and  more  northerly  road,  by  way  of  a  place 


THE  EETURN  THROUGH  BAMBARRA.  129 


called  Sibidulu,  where  he  might  be  enabled  to  continue 
his  journey  through  Manding.  An  itinerant  musician, 
going  in  the  same  direction,  agreed  to  act  as  guide. 

At  first  Park  was  conducted  up  a  rocky  glen,  but  had 
not  gone  many  miles  when  his  companion  discovered  that 
he  had  taken  the  wrong  road,  the  right  one  being  on  the 
other  side  of  the  hill.  Kot  seeing  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
repair  his  blunder  as  far  as  possible,  the  guide  threw 
his  drum  over  his  shoulder  and  continued  his  way  over 
the  rocks,  whither  Park  could  not  follow  him  on  horse- 
back, but  had  to  return  to  the  plain  and  find  his  way 
himself. 

Happily  he  succeeded  in  striking  a  horse  track,  which 
proved  to  be  the  right  road  ;  and  soon  he  had  reached 
the  summit  of  the  hill,  where  an  extensive  landscape 
spread  out  before  him.  The  plain  at  his  feet  was  half 
submerged  under  the  Niger  waters,  which  at  one  place 
spread  out  like  a  lake,  at  another  were  gathered  into  a 
curving  river,  while  far  to  the  south-east,  in  the  hazy 
sheen  of  distance,  the  summits  of  the  Kong  Mountains 
could  be  dimly  descried. 

Towards  sunset  the  road  descended  into  a  delightful 
valley,  leading  to  a  romantically  situated  village  named 
Kuma.  Here  Park  for  once  met  with  a  pleasant  wel- 
come. Com  and  milk  in  abundance  were  placed  ready 
for  himself,  and  abundance  of  grass  for  his  horse.  A 
fire  even  was  kindled  in  the  hut  set  apart  for  him,  while 
outside  the  natives  crowded  round  him  in  naive  wonder- 
ment, asking  him  a  thousand  questions. 

Fain  would  Park  have  lingered  in  this  village  to  rest 
and  recruit,  but  an  eager  longing  possessed  him  to  push 
on,  lest  the  loss  of  a  day  should  prove  fatal  to  his  further 
progress.    Two  shepherds  proceeding  in  the  same  direc- 


130 


MUNGO  PAKE  AND  THE  NIGEK. 


tion  as  himself  agreed  to  accompany  him.  In  some 
respects  the  road  proved  to  be  more  difficult  and  dan- 
gerous than  an;y^hing  he  had  previously  passed.  At 
places  the  ascent  was  so  sharp,  and  the  dechvities  so 
great,  that  a  single  false  step  would  have  caused  his 
horse  to  be  dashed  to  pieces  at  the  bottom  of  the 
l^recipices. 

Finding  that  they  were  able  to  travel  faster  than 
their  white  companion,  the  shepherds  after  a  time 
pushed  on  by  themselves.  Shortly  afterwards,  shouts 
and  screams  of  distress  apprised  Park  that  something 
had  gone  wrong  ahead.  Riding  slowly  towards  the 
place  whence  the  alarm  had  seemed  to  proceed,  and 
seeing  no  one,  he  began  to  call  aloud,  but  without 
receiving  any  answer.  By-and-by,  however,  he  dis- 
covered one  of  the  shepherds  lying  among  the  long 
grass  near  the  road.  At  first  his  conclusion  was  that 
the  man  was  dead,  but  on  getting  nearer  him  he  found 
that  he  was  still  alive,  and  was  told  in  a  whisper  that 
the  other  had  been  seized  by  a  party  of  armed  men. 

On  looking  round.  Park  was  alarmed  to  discover  that 
he  was  himself  in  imminent  danger.  A  party  of  six  or 
seven  men  armed  with  muskets  were  watching  him. 
Escape  being  impossible,  he  considered  it  his  best  course 
to  ride  towards  them.  As  he  approached  he  assumed 
an  air  of  unconcern,  and  pretending  to  take  them  for 
elephant  hunters,  he  asked  if  they  had  shot  anything. 
For  answer  one  of  the  party  ordered  him  to  dismount ; 
then,  as  if  thinking  better  of  it,  signed  to  him  to  go  on. 
Nothing  loth.  Park  rode  forward,  glad  to  be  relieved 
from  the  fear  of  further  ill-treatment. 

His  relief,  however,  was  of  short  duration.  A  loud 
hullo  brought  him  suddenly  to  a  standstill.  Look- 


THE  KETURN  THROUGH  BAMBARRA.  131 


ing  round,  he  saw  the  robbers — for  such  they  were — 
running  towards  him.  Park  stopped  to  await  their 
coming.  He  was  then  told  that  they  had  been  sent  by 
the  King  of  Fulahdu  to  bring  him  and  all  that  belonged 
to  him  to  his  capital.  Park,  to  avoid  ill-treatment,  un- 
hesitatingly agreed  to  follow  them,  and  in  silence  the 
party  travelled  across  country  for  some  time.  A  dark 
wood  was  at  last  reached.  This  place  will  do,"  said  one 
of  the  party,  and  almost  simultaneously  the  unfortunate 
traveller  was  set  upon,  and  his  hat  torn  from  his  head. 
To  lose  his  hat  was  like  losing  his  life,  for  it  contained 
all  that  made  life  dear  to  him  for  the  time  being.  He 
betrayed  no  sign  of  trouble,  however,  but  simply  declared 
that  he  would  go  no  further  unless  his  hat  was  returned. 

For  answer  one  of  the  band  drew  a  knife,  and  cut 
the  last  metal  button  from  Park's  waistcoat.  The 
others  then  proceeded  to  search  his  pockets,  which 
he  permitted  them  to  do  without  resistance.  Find- 
ing little  to  satisfy  their  rapacity,  they  stripped  him 
naked.  His  very  boots,  though  so  sadly  dilapidated  as 
to  need  a  part  of  his  bridle-rein  to  keep  the  soles  on,  were 
minutely  examined.  Yet  even  at  this  lowest  depth  of 
ignominy  his  paramount  thought  was  his  work.  He 
could  endure  the  loss  of  the  last  shred  of  clothing,  but 
to  be  deprived  of  his  notes  and  his  compass  was  insup- 
portable. Seeing  the  latter  lying  on  the  gi'ound,  he 
begged  to  have  it  returned  to  him.  In  a  passion  one  of 
the  robbers  picked  up  his  musket  and  cocked  it,  declaring 
that  he  would  shoot  him  dead  on  the  spot. 

Humanity,  however,  was  not  quite  suppressed  in  the 
hearts  of  these  scoundrels,  for  after  a  moment's  delibera- 
tion they  returned  him  a  shirt  and  a  pair  of  trousers. 
As  they  were  about  to  depart  the  one  who  had  taken 


132 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


his  hat  jeeringly  tossed  it  back  to  him.  Never  with 
more  eagerness  and  delight  did  despairing  mother  gather 
to  her  bosom  a  long  lost  child,  than  did  Park  to  his  the 
battered  remnant  of  a  hat  which  contained  his  precious 
store  of  notes.  With  them  there  was  still  something  woi  th 
struggling  for,  hopeless  as  his  case  migl  t  seem. 

Never  surely  was  man  more  tried.  At  eveiy  step  he 
had  met  with  new  calamities,  new  obstacles,  miseries, 
and  dangers.  ]\Jan  and  nature  were  alike  in  conspiracy 
against  him.  And  now  he  had  to  add  to  his  previous 
destitution  semi-nakedness,  and  the  loss  of  his  horse. 
With  hundreds  of  miles  still  before  him,  how  could  he 
hope  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  fresh  difficulties  and 
dangers  he  would  undoubtedly  have  to  face  ?  Yet  even 
as  he  conjured  up  before  his  mind  the  perils  ahead  from 
wild  beasts  and  evilly  disposed  men,  from  swamp  and 
flood,  from  wind  and  rain,  he  began  to  take  comfort  as 
he  recalled  to  mind  his  numerous  past  escapes,  which 
were  to  him  as  proofs  positive  of  a  protecting  Pi'ovidence 
which  never  yet  had  failed  him  in  his  hour  of  need. 

As  his  thoughts  took  a  more  hopeful  turn,  and  his 
sanguine  temperament  and  rooted  faith  in  a  God  who 
overruled  all  things  reasserted  their  influence,  Park's 
gaze  fell  upon  a  tuft  of  moss.  Irresistibly  his  mind  was 
diverted  from  the  horrors  of  his  position  to  the  beauty 
of  the  lowly  plant  before  him.  As  he  examined  with 
admiration  its  delicate  conformation,  the  thought  oc- 
curred to  him,  "Can  that  Being  who  planted,  watered, 
and  brought  to  perfection  in  this  obscure  part  of  the 
w^orld  a  thing  which  appears  of  so  small  importance, 
look  with  unconcern  upon  the  situation  and  sufferings  of 
creatures  formed  after  His  own  image  ?    Surely  not  !  " 

The  next  moment  the  old  spirit  came  back  to  him. 


THE  RETURN  THROUGH  BAMBARRA.  133 


Not  yet  would  he  succumb.  While  there  was  life  in 
him  he  would  struggle,  and  while  he  could  struggle 
there  was  hope.  Starting  up,  he  pushed  forward  once 
more,  assured  in  his  mind  that  relief  was  at  hand.  Nor 
was  he  disappointed.  Near  a  small  village  he  found  the 
two  shepherds,  in  whose  company  he  once  more  pro- 
ceeded, till  at  sunset  they  entered  Sibidulu,  his  destina- 
tion for  the  time  being. 


CHAPTER  XIY. 


REST  A  T  KAMALIA. 

Park  had  now  entered  the  country  of  Handing.  Sibi- 
duhi,  from  its  position  in  a  small  valley  surrounded  by 
high  rocky  hills  impassable  to  horsemen,  had  had  the 
singular  good  fortune  to  escape  being  plundered  during 
the  numerous  wars  from  time  to  time  waging  around 
it.  To  this  happy  immunity  may  possibly  be  ascribed 
the  reception  accorded  to  Park  in  his  hour  of  need.  As 
he  entered  the  town  the  people  gathered  round  and 
accompanied  him  in  a  pitying  ciowd  to  the  head  man 
of  the  village  in  order  to  hear  his  story. 

While  he  related  the  circumstances  of  his  ill  treatment 
the  native  official  listened  with  becoming  gravity,  and 
smoked  his  pipe  the  while.  The  narrative  finished,  the 
latter  drew  up  the  sleeve  of  his  cloak  with  an  indig- 
nant air,  and  laying  aside  his  pipe,  told  the  white  man 
to  sit  down.  "  You  shall  have  everything  returned  to 
you.    I  have  sworn  it  !  " 

Turning  to  an  attendant,  he  ordered  him  to  bring  the 
stranger  a  drink  of  water,  and  then  proceed  over  the 
hills  at  dawn  of  day  to  inform  the  chief  of  Bammaku 
that  the  King  of  Bambarra's  stranger  had  been  robbed 
by  the  people  of  the  King  of  Fulahdu. 

The  head  man  did  not  confine  himself  to  words  or 

to  water.    A  hut  was  given  to  Park,  and  food  to  eat, 

134 


KEST  AT  KAMALIA. 


135 


though  the  crowd  which  gathered  round  to  commiserate 
the  white  man's  misfortunes  could  with  comfort  have 
been  dispensed  with. 

The  generosity  of  his  reception  was  all  the  more  ad- 
mirable that  at  the  time  the  people  were  suffering  from 
semi-famine.  Under  these  circumstances,  after  having 
waited  two  days  in  vain  for  the  return  of  his  horse  and 
clothes,  Park,  afraid  of  becoming  a  burden  to  his  kind 
host,  asked  permission  to  proceed  to  the  next  village. 
The  head  man  showed  no  anxiety  to  hasten  his  guest's 
departure,  but  in  the  end  told  him  to  go  to  Wonda, 
and  remain  there  till  news  was  received  of  his  missing 
possessions. 

Accordingly  on  the  30th,  he  proceeded  to  the  place  in- 
dicated, a  small  town  with  a  mosque,  where  his  reception 
by  the  Mansa  or  chief  was  as  hospitable  as  at  Sibidulu. 

The  attacks  of  fever  which  had  finally  compelled  Park 
to  turn  back  at  Silla  now  began  to  return  with  greater 
violence  and  frequency,  and  little  wonder  either  that  it 
should  be  so.  His  solitary  shirt,  worn  to  the  thinness  of 
muslin,  afforded  him  neither  protection  from  the  sun  by 
day  nor  from  the  dews  and  mosquitoes  by  night.  As, 
also,  it  had  become  unpleasantly  dirty,  at  Wonda  he  set 
about  washing  it,  and  had  to  sit  naked  in  the  shade  till 
it  dried.  The  result  was  a  violent  attack  of  fever  which 
prostrated  him  for  nine  days. 

All  the  while  he  had  to  do  his  best  to  conceal  his 
illness,  lest  his  host  should  find  him  too  great  a  nuisance, 
and  order  him  to  move  on.  To  this  end  he  tried,  like 
sick  or  wounded  animals,  to  hide  himself  away  out  of 
sight,  usually  spending  the  whole  day  lying  in  the  corn- 
field, thus  undoubtedly  aggravating  his  malady. 

At  this  time  the  scarcity  of  food  was  so  great  that 


136 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


women  brought  their  children  to  the  head  man  to  sell 
for  forty  days'  provisions  for  themselves  and  the  rest 
of  their  families. 

At  last  messengers  arrived  from  Sibidulii,  bringing 
Park's  horse  and  clothes.  To  his  profound  dismay  and 
disappointment  the  compass — which  next  to  his  notes  was 
his  most  valuable  possession — was  broken  and  useless. 
The  loss  was  irreparable. 

The  horse  proving  to  be  a  mere  skeleton,  he  was 
handed  over  as  a  present  to  his  kind  landlord. 

Though  still  ill  with  fever,  and  hardly  able  to  totter 
along,  the  traveller  now  resumed  his  weary  way. 

On  the  two  succeeding  days  starvation  added  to  his 
weakness.  On  the  third  a  negro  trader  gave  him  some 
food,  and  afterwards  conducted  him  to  his  house  at 
Kinyeto.  Here,  as  if  he  had  not  yet  sufficiently  run 
the  gamut  of  human  suffering,  he  must  needs  endure 
the  agonies  of  a  sprained  ankle,  which  swelled  and  in- 
flamed so  that  he  could  not  set  his  foot  to  the  ground. 
The  kindly  trader,  however,  made  him  welcome  to  stay 
until  quite  recovered,  but  Park  did  not  trespass  on  his 
hospitality  longer  than  was  absolutely  necessary. 

In  three  days  he  was  sufficiently  well  to  be  able  to 
limp  along  with  the  assistance  of  a  staff,  and  in  this 
fashion  he  contrived  to  hobble  to  Jeiijang,  whose  chief 
— there  being  no  king  in  Manding — was  considered  the 
most  powerful  in  the  country. 

Dosita  was  the  next  \'illage  reached,  and  here  rain 
without  and  delirium  within  compelled  him  to  remain 
one  day.  Recovering  slightly,  he  set  out  for  Mansia. 
The  road  led  over  a  high  rocky  hill,  and  almost  proved 
too  much  for  the  exhausted  w\ayfarer,  who  had  to  lie 
down  at  intervals  to  recover.    Though  only  a  very  few 


REST  AT  KAMALIA, 


137 


miles  distant,  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon  before  he 
reached  the  town.  Here  he  was  given  a  little  corn  to 
eat,  and  a  hut  to  sleep  in.  Evidently,  however,  the  head 
man  thought  Park  richer  than  he  looked,  and  during 
the  night  made  two  attempts  to  enter  the  hut,  being 
each  time  frustrated  by  the  traveller's  vigilance.  In  the 
morning  the  latter  thought  it  better  to  take  French 
leave  of  such  a  host,  and  accordingly  at  daybreak  set 
forth  for  Kamalia,  a  small  town  situated  at  the  bottom 
of  some  rocky  hills.  This  place  he  reached  in  the  coui'se 
of  the  afternoon. 

At  Kamalia,  one  Karfa  Taura,  brother  of  the  hospi- 
table negro  trader  of  Kinyeto,  extended  a  like  welcome 
to  the  wayworn  white  man.  By  this  time,  so  yellow 
was  the  latter's  skin  from  his  repeated  fevers,  and  so 
poverty-stricken  his  appearance,  that  the  trader  was  only 
convinced  of  his  nationality  when  on  showing  him  a 
white  man's  book  in  his  possession,  he  found  the  traveller 
could  read  it.  This  was  a  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
of  which  Park  obtained  possession  with  no  small  surpiise 
and  delight. 

Not  too  soon  had  some  means  of  spiritual  consolation 
come  to  him,  for  here  he  learned  that  the  country  before 
him — the  Jallonka  Wilderness,  with  its  eight  rapid  rivers 
— was  absolutely  impassable  for  many  months  to  come. 
Even  then,  when  caravans  found  it  difficult  and  dan- 
gerous, what  would  it  be  to  a  defenceless  and  destitute 
single  man  1  With  the  knowledge  that  further  advance 
at  the  present  was  hopeless,  came  the  realisation  of  the 
fact  that  to  utter  exhaustion  of  outward  resources  was 
now  to  be  added  the  complete  loss  of  all  inward  force 
and  strength.  Exposure,  hunger,  toil,  and  fever  had  at 
last  triumphed  over  Park's  u-on  constitution,  and  laid 


138 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


him  low.  He  might  still  will  not  to  die,  still  hope  that 
he  would  yet  reach  the  coast,  still  keep  up  his  deter- 
mined and  sanguine  spirit ;  but  meanw^hile,  what  could 
he  do  when  his  physical  powers  had  thus  failed  him  ? 

But  even  in  that  moment,  w^hen  he  found  himself 
overshadow^ed  by  despair  and  death,  and  at  the  extreme 
limit  of  all  his  earthly  resources,  he  was  once  again  to 
prove  that  a  "  Protecting  Pro\^dence "  watched  over 
him.  In  his  supreme  need  a  kind  host  had  been  pro- 
vided in  the  person  of  Karfa  Taura  to  save  him  from 
death  by  fever  and  starvation,  and  not  only  to  lodge  and 
feed  him,  but  at  the  proper  time  to  conduct  him  to  the 
Gambia,  whither  he  was  going  with  a  slave  caravan. 

*'Thus  was  I  delivered  by  the  friendly  care  of  this 
benevolent  negro  from  a  situation  truly  deplorable. 
Distress  and  famine  pressed  hard  upon  me.  I  had 
before  me  the  gloomy  wilds  of  Jallonkadu,  where  the 
traveller  sees  no  habitation  for  five  successive  days.  I 
had  almost  marked  out  the  place  where  I  was  doomed,  as 
I  thought,  to  perish,  when  this  friendly  negro  stretched 
out  his  hospitable  hand  to  my  relief." 

But  neither  food  nor  suitable  shelter  could  stay  the 
course  of  the  fever.  Each  succeeding  day  saw  Park 
weaker,  each  night  more  delirious,  till  at  length  he  could 
not  even  crawl  out  of  the  hut.  Six  weary  weeks  he  passed 
hovering  between  life  and  death — alone  sustained  by  his 
intense  religious  beliefs  and  his  eager  hope  of  reaching 
the  coast  before  he  died.  Little  w^onder  surely  that  at 
times  he  spent  "  the  lingering  hours  in  a  very  gloomy 
and  solitary  manner,"  w^hile  the  rains  dashed  down 
remorselessly  on  the  hut  wherein  he  lay  in  the  damp 
stifling  atmosphere  and  semi- darkness. 

At  length  with  the  passing  season  the  rains  became 


REST  AT  KAMALIA. 


139 


less  frequent,  and  the  ground  in  consequence  more 
dry.  With  improved  conditions  came  improved  health 
and  stronger  hope  of  life.  At  times  the  convalescent 
managed  to  crawl  to  his  door  to  sniff  the  fresher  and 
more  wholesome  air,  to  bathe  in  the  bright  light,  and 
look  upon  the  blue  heavens.  It  was  as  if  he  had 
emerged  from  an  open  grave. 

Soon  from  the  door  of  his  hut  he  could  totter  with 
his  mat  to  the  grateful  shade  of  a  tamarind  tree,  and 
there  enjoy  the  refreshing  smell  of  the  growing  corn, 
and  the  varied  prospect  of  hill  and  valley,  field  and 
grove  around  him.  At  other  times  naive  converse  with 
the  simple  natives,  and  half  hours  with  his  book  of 
prayers,  made  glad  the  passing  day. 

Through  it  all  Karfa  Taura  was  ever  the  generous 
host  and  faithful  friend,  though  many  there  were  who 
vainly  tried  to  turn  him  against  his  unknown  guest. 

Occasionally  parties  of  slaves  were  conveyed  through 
Kamalia,  Once  one  of  the  unfortunate  captives  asked 
Park  for  food.  The  latter  represented  that  he  was  him- 
self a  stranger  and  destitute.  "  I  gave  you  food  when 
you  were  hungry,"  was  the  reply;  "  have  you  forgot  the 
man  who  brought  you  milk  at  Karankalla  ?  But,"  added 
he  with  a  sigh,  "the  irons  were  not  then  on  my  legs." 
Much  touched.  Park  recalled  the  incident,  and  instantly 
begged  some  ground-nuts  for  him  from  Karfa. 

With  returning  health  of  both  body  and  mind.  Park 
employed  himself  while  wearily  awaiting  the  completion 
of  the  slave  caravan  in  a  variety  of  inquiries  regarding 
articles  of  commerce,  trade  routes,  &c.  Among  other 
subjects  he  was  much  interested  in  the  slave  trade.  He 
learned  the  various  ways  in  which  slaves  were  obtained — 
how  the  natives  kidnapped  from  neighbouring  villages 

E 


140 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


and  petty  states,  or  warred  with  each  other  to  keep  up 
the  traffic — how  parents  found  a  source  of  temporary 
relief  in  times  of  famine  by  selling  their  children,  and 
kings  a  source  of  revenue  by  disposing  of  their  subjects 
or  those  convicted  of  crimes,  while  people  unable  to 
meet  their  engagements  in  the  ordinary  w^ay  paid  their 
debts  by  becoming  the  slaves  of  the  creditors.  Of  the 
bloodshed  and  ruin  resulting  from  the  unholy  traffic 
he  had  himself  seen  much,  and  now  heard  more,  while 
remaining  blind  to  Europe's  share  in  encouraging  this 
"  great  open  sore "  of  Africa,  that  its  merchants  and 
planters  might  be  enriched  thereby.  As  for  the  unhappy 
victims  of  European  commerce,  they  had  a  deeply  rooted 
belief  that  they  were  to  be  devoured  by  white  cannibals, 
and  that  the  country  across  the  sea  was  an  enchanted 
land  quite  different  from  their  own.  Theii'  usual  ques- 
tion to  Park  was,  Have  you  really  got  such  ground  as 
this  to  set  your  feet  upon  ?  " 

These  ideas  naturally  caused  the  slaves  to  regard  their 
fate  at  the  coast  with  terror  and  horror,  and  to  seek  every 
opportunity  of  escaping. 

Each  day  Park  could  see  his  future  companions  to  the 
Gambia  marched  out,  secured  from  flight  by  having  the 
right  leg  of  one  attached  by  fetters  to  the  left  leg  of 
another,  with  the  additional  precaution  that  every  four 
men  were  fastened  together  by  the  necks  with  a  strong 
rope.  Some  who  were  not  amenable  to  this  form  of 
discipline  had  a  cylinder  of  wood  notched  at  each  end 
fastened  between  the  legs  with  iron  bolts.  At  night 
additional  fetters  were  put  on  the  hands,  and  occasionally 
the  prisoners  were  made  further  secure  by  having  a  light 
iron  chain  passed  round  their  necks.  Thus  loaded  with 
irons  on  neck,  hand,  and  foot  they  were  placed  in 


REST  AT  KAMALIA. 


141 


batches  and  left  to  find  sleep  as  best  they  could,  guarded 
by  Karfa  Taura's  domestic  slaves. 

One  pleasant  sight  there  was  of  M-hich  Park  never 
wearied — the  Mohammedan  schoolmaster  of  Kamalia, 
and  his  school  of  seventeen  boys  and  girls.  To  him  it 
was  not  so  much  a  matter  of  wonder  as  a  matter  of 
regret  to  observe  that  while  the  superstition  of  Moham- 
med has  in  this  manner  scattered  a  few  faint  dreams  of 
learning  among  these  poor  people,  the  precious  light  of 
Christianity  is  excluded.  I  could  not  but  lament,"  he 
continues,  that  although  the  coast  of  Africa  had  now 
been  known  and  frequented  for  more  than  two  hundred 
years,  yet  the  negroes  still  remain  entire  strangers  to 
the  doctrines  of  our  holy  religion.  .  .  .  Perhaps  a  short 
and  easy  introduction  to  Christianity,  such  as  is  found 
in  some  of  the  catechisms  for  children,  elegantly  printed 
in  Arabic,  and  distributed  on  different  parts  of  the  coast, 
might  have  a  wonderful  effect.  .  .  .  These  reflections 
I  have  thus  ventured  to  submit  to  my  readers  on  this 
important  subject,  on  perceiving  the  encouragement 
which  was  thus  given  to  learning  (such  as  it  is)  in  many 
parts  of  Africa.  I  have  observed  that  the  pupils  of 
Kamalia  w^ere  most  of  them  children  of  Pagans  ;  their 
parents  therefore  could  have  had  no  predilection  for  the 
doctrines  of  Mohammed.  Their  aim  was  their  children's 
improvement."  So  much  indeed  was  education  prized 
that  the  usual  course  was  valued  at  the  price  of  a  prime 
slave. 

By  the  beginning  of  the  year  1797,  everything  was 
ready  for  departure,  but  on  various  trivial  pretexts  the 
leave-taking  was  put  off  from  day  to  day  till  the  approach 
of  Rhamadan,  when  it  was  determined  to  wait  till  it  was 
over  before  commencing  their  journey. 


142 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


During  the  whole  of  the  month  of  fast  "the  negroes 
behaved  themselves  with  the  greatest  meekness  and 
humility,  forming  a  striking  contrast  to  the  savage 
intolerance  and  brutal  bigotry  which  at  this  period 
characterise  the  Moors." 


CHAPTER  XV. 


THE  SLAVE  ROUTE, 

In  the  second  week  of  April  the  Mohammedans  of 
Kamalia  were  on  the  alert  for  the  expected  appearance 
of  the  new  moon,  which  would  terminate  their  month  of 
fasting.  On  the  evening  of  this  joyful  event  it  seemed 
for  a  time  as  if  they  were  to  be  disappointed,  and  that 
yet  another  day  would  have  to  be  added  to  their  Rhama- 
dan.  Clouds  veiled  the  sky.  Only  temporarily,  how- 
ever. The  obscuring  mists  broke,  and  the  dehcate  curved 
beauty  of  the  new  moon  gleamed  upon  the  upturned 
faces,  and  carried  joy  to  every  Mussulman  heart.  Shrill 
screams  from  the  women  and  shouts  from  the  men, 
hand  clapping,  drum  beating,  and  musket  firing  gave 
voice  to  the  general  delight. 

Orders  were  at  once  given  by  Karfa  to  prepare  for 
the  march,  and  on  consultation  the  19th  of  April  was 
chosen  for  the  day  of  departm^e.  This  was  good  news 
for  Park,  who,  sick  with  hope  long  deferred,  and 
"  wearied  with  a  constant  state  of  alarm  and  anxiety, 
had  developed  a  painful  longing  for  the  manifold  bless- 
ings of  civilisation."  All  the  slatees  had  done  their  best 
to  set  Karfa  against  the  white  stranger,  and  the  latter 
constantly  feared  that  their  evil  machinations  might 
prevail,  and  that  he  would  be  cast  forth  helpless  and 

destitute  among  the  dangerous  wilds  of  Africa. 

143 


144 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


At  last  the  wished-for  day  of  departure  arrived.  The 
slatees  assembled  with  their  slaves  before  their  leader 
Karfa's  door.  The  bundles  were  finally  roped,  and  the 
loads  assigned  to  the  men  and  women  who  were  to  carry 
them.  When  mustered,  the  caravan  numbered  thirty- 
five  slaves,  and  thirty-eight  free  people  and  domestic 
slaves,  a  schoolmaster  with  eight  pupils,  and  six  singing 
men  to  lighten  with  song  and  antic  the  toils  of  the  route, 
while  at  the  same  time  making  the  presence  of  the  cara- 
van more  welcome  to  the  natives,  and  its  reception  more 
hospitable  at  their  hands. 

Amid  much  hand-shaking  and  various  manifestations 
of  fear,  regret,  and  grief,  the  signal  to  start  was  given, 
and  the  caravan  set  out  on  its  journey.  At  a  rising 
some  distance  out  of  town  a  halt  was  called.  All  were 
ordered  to  seat  themselves,  the  departing  band  of  travel- 
lers with  their  faces  towards  the  west,  the  townspeople 
who  had  so  far  accompanied  them  with  theirs  towards 
Kamalia  and  the  east.  The  schoolmaster  and  two  of 
the  principal  slatees,  placing  themselves  between,  raised 
a  long  and  solemn  prayer  that  their  journey  might 
be  successful  and  safe  under  the  protection  of  Allah, 
Afterwards  the  caravan  was  encircled  three  times,  that 
a  charm  might  be  woven  round  the  party,  and  their 
safety  thus  further  ensured.  The  ceremony  concluded, 
all  sprang  to  their  feet,  and  without  further  leave-taking 
the  start  was  made  towards  the  ocean. 

At  first  the  movements  of  many  of  the  slaves  were 
eloquent  of  the  fetters  they  had  worn  for  years.  Their 
attempts  at  walking  were  marked  by  spasmodic  con- 
tractions of  the  legs,  and  very  soon  two  of  them  had  to 
be  released  from  the  rope  to  allow  them  to  go  slower,  so 
painful  were  their  efforts  to  step  out  freely  and  briskly. 


BAOBAB  TREE. 


THE  SLAVE  ROUTE. 


145 


In  two  marches  Worumbang,  the  western  frontier 
village  of  Manding,  was  reached  without  mishap.  The 
party  was  now  on  the  verge  of  the  dreaded  Jallonka 
Wilderness.  Provisions  had  to  be  gathered  for  the 
passage  of  this  trying  region,  and  every  one  rested  to 
prepare  for  the  forced  marches  and  hardships  ahead. 

On  the  morning  of  the  21st  the  outskirts  of  the 
wilderness  were  entered.  On  reaching  the  woods  a  halt 
was  called,  and  a  prayer  offered  up  that  Allah  and  his 
prophet  might  preserve  them  from  robbers,  keep  them 
from  hunger,  and  sustain  them  under  fatigue.  This 
ceremony  over,  it  behoved  every  man  to  push  forward 
with  all  his  strength  and  will  if  Kinytakuro,  the  pro- 
posed destination  of  that  day's  march,  was  to  be  reached 
before  dark.  Every  one,  bond  and  free  alike,  knew  the 
dangers  before  him,  and  ran  rather  than  w^alked. 

Soon  the  Niger  basin  was  left,  and  the  Kokoro,  a 
tributary  of  the  Senegal,  was  reached.  At  this  time  it 
was  a  mere  rivulet,  but  there  was  ample  evidence  to 
show  that  during  the  rainy  season  it  had  risen  tw^enty 
feet. 

No  halt  was  made  throughout  the  day — nothing  was 
heard  but  the  order  to  push  on.  Well  indeed  was  it 
for  those  who  had  the  strength  to  do  so.  Some  there 
were  who  could  not.  A  woman  and  a  girl  began  to  lag 
behind.  Threats  and  curses  from  time  to  time  incited 
them  to  spasmodic  efforts  at  exertion,  but  soon  these 
failed  in  their  effect,  and  fell  on  unheeding  ears.  The 
lash  was  next  brought  into  i^lay,  and  for  a  time  gave  the 
needed  stimulus.  Then  it  too  failed.  Savage  hands 
grasped  the  unhappy  victims  of  European  commerce 
and  dragged  them  forward,  while  others  behind  plied 
the  whip  with  unabating  ferocity.    The  limits  of  nature 


146 


MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


were  reached  at  last,  and  both  sank  to  the  ground,  not 
to  be  moved  by  any  form  of  fiendish  cruelty.  Furious 
and  disappointed,  their  master  had  at  length  to  give 
in,  and  make  up  his  mind  to  return  home  for  the  time 
being. 

About  sunset  the  town  of  Kinytakuro  was  reached, 
and  the  anxieties  of  the  first  day's  march  were  over. 
The  entry  to  the  town  was  made  with  much  ceremony 
and  circumstance.  The  musicians  led  the  way  singing 
the  praises  of  the  villagers,  their  hospitality,  and  their 
friendship  to  the  Mandingoes.  After  them  followed 
some  of  the  free  men  ;  then  came  the  slaves,  fastened 
in  fours  by  a  rope  round  the  neck,  with  an  armed 
man  between  each  set.  Behind  the  raw  slaves  came  the 
domestic  slaves,  while  the  rear  was  brought  up  by  the 
free  women,  the  wives  of  the  slatees,  the  scholars,  &c. 
In  this  way  the  caravan  marched  to  the  palaver  house, 
where  the  people  gathered  round  to  hear  their  story  ; 
after  which  lodgings  and  food  were  provided  for  the 
entire  party. 

At  daybreak  on  the  23rd,  the  wilderness  proper  was 
entered.  At  ten  o'clock  the  river  AVonda,  flowing  to 
the  Senegal,  was  crossed,  and  then  strict  commands  were 
given  that  close  order  should  be  maintained,  and  every 
man  travel  in  his  proper  station. 

The  guides  and  the  young  men  led  the  way,  the 
women  and  slaves  occupied  the  centre,  while  the  free 
men  brought  up  the  rear.  The  country  through  which 
they  passed  unmolested,  though  with  hurried  footsteps, 
was  charming  in  the  extreme,  with  its  variety  of  hill 
and  dale,  of  glade  and  wood,  and  meandering  streams, 
to  which  partridges,  guinea  fowl,  and  deer  gave  an  air 
of  animation.    On  this  day  Park  got  his  arms  and  neck 


THE  SLAVE  ROUTE. 


147 


painfully  blistered  by  the  burning  sun,  from  which  his 
scanty  dress  afforded  him  no  protection. 

At  sunset  a  romantic  stream  called  Comcissang  was 
reached,  and  here  the  party  halted  for  the  night, 
thoroughly  fatigued  with  their  day's  exertions,  though 
no  one  was  heard  to  complain.  Large  fires  were  kindled 
for  cooking  purposes,  as  well  as  to  light  up  the  camp 
and  drive  away  w^ild  beasts.  Supper  over,  the  slaves 
were  put  in  irons  to  prevent  their  escaping,  and  then 
all  disposed  themselves  to  sleep ;  but  between  ants 
within  the  camp  and  wild  beasts  howling  without  the 
night's  rest  was  sadly  broken. 

At  daybreak  morning  prayers  were  said,  after  which 
a  little  gruel  was  drunk  by  the  free  men,  the  irons 
being  thereafter  once  more  taken  off  the  slaves,  and 
the  march  resumed. 

The  route  now  led  over  a  wild  and  rocky  country, 
where  Park,  with  nothing  better  than  sandals  to  protect 
his  feet,  got  sadly  bruised  and  cut.  Fears  began  to 
oppress  him  that  he  would  not  be  able  to  keep  up  with 
the  caravan,  and  that  he  would  be  left  behind  to  perish. 
The  sight  of  others  more  exhausted  than  himself  was, 
however,  in  some  sort  a  relief  from  his  apprehension. 
Neali,  one  of  Karfa's  female  slaves,  especially  showed 
signs  of  giving  in.  She  began  to  lag  behind,  complaining 
of  pains  in  her  legs,  and  her  load  had  to  be  taken  from 
her  and  given  to  another.  About  midday,  while  halting 
at  a  rivulet,  an  enormous  swarm  of  bees,  which  had 
been  disturbed  by  one  of  the  men,  set  upon  the  caravan, 
and  sent  it  flying  in  all  directions.  When  the  panic 
had  subsided,  it  was  discovered  that  Xeali  had  been 
left  behind.  Before  going  back  in  search  of  her  it 
was  necessary  to  set  fire  to  the  grass  to  the  east  of  the 


148 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


hive  in  order  to  clear  away  the  bees  with  the  smoke. 
The  plan  was  effectual,  and  on  returning  to  the  rivulet, 
Neali  was  found  half  dead  in  the  water,  whither  she 
had  crept  in  the  hope  of  escaping  the  onslaught  of  the 
bees.  The  stratagem  had  been  of  no  avail,  however, 
and  the  poor  creature  was  almost  stung  to  death. 

It  was  the  last  drop  in  her  cup  of  misery.  Nothing 
else  could  touch  her.  Entreaties  and  threats  w^ere  alike 
useless.  Further  forward  she  doggedly  refused  to  go. 
Once  more  the  efficacy  of  the  whip  was  tried.  Down 
came  the  brutal  lash.  The  girl  writhed  in  every  muscle, 
but  she  neither  screamed  nor  attempted  to  rise.  Again 
the  lash  swung  round  her  shrinking  body,  but  with  no 
more  effect.  Not  until  it  had  descended  a  third  and  a 
fourth  time  did  her  resolution  give  way.  Then  stung  to 
superhuman  effort  by  the  fearful  torture,  she  started  up 
and  staggered  forward  for  some  hours,  till  wild  with 
agony  she  made  a  mad  attempt  to  run  away,  but  fell 
fainting  among  the  grass.  Her  master's  only  remedy 
was  the  lash,  and  that  he  applied  with  renewed  savagery. 
In  vain — Neali  was  beyond  its  cruel  compulsion.  As  a 
last  resource  the  donkey  which  carried  the  dry  provisions 
was  brought,  and  the  half  dead  slave  placed  on  his  back. 
But  the  girl's  only  wish  was  to  die,  nay,  even  now  she 
seemed  as  one  already  dead. 

Unable  even  if  she  had  been  w^illing  to  retain  her  seat, 
and  the  donkey  at  the  same  time  emphatically  objecting 
to  his  new  load,  that  means  of  carriage  had  to  be  given 
up.  The  day's  journey,  however,  was  nearly  over,  and 
Neali  being  a  valuable  slave,  the  slatees  could  not  bring 
themselves  to  abandon  her.  Accordingly,  they  made  a 
rude  litter  of  bamboo  canes,  on  which  she  was  carried 
until  the  camping  ground  for  the  night  was  reached. 


THE  SLAVE  ROUTE. 


U9 


It  now  became  evident  that  Neali  was  not  the  only- 
slave  for  whom  the  journey  was  proving  too  much.  The 
hard  march  with  heavy  loads  under  a  broiling  sun,  with- 
out food,  and  with  no  better  stimulant  than  blows  and 
curses — with  nothing  to  look  forward  to  at  night  but 
additional  chains,  and  in  the  futui-e  a  horrible  fate  at 
the  hands  of  white  men  across  the  seas — all  this  was 
beginning  to  have  its  natural  effect.  Sullen  despair  was 
in  every  feature — every  gesture.  Death,  suicide,  seemed 
preferable  to  such  a  chain  of  horrors. 

The  slatees  were  not  slow  to  mark  these  ominous  signs. 
At  once  fetters  were  applied — the  more  desperate  of  the 
slaves  having  even  their  hands  chained ;  and  thus  bound 
they  were  left  to  rest  as  best  they  might. 

Throughout  the  night  Neali  lay  torpid  and  almost 
motionless,  and  morning  found  her  with  limbs  so  stiff 
and  swollen  that  she  could  not  stand,  much  less  walk. 
The  donkey  was  again  brought  into  requisition,  and  to 
keep  her  on  his  back  the  girl's  hands  were  tied  round 
his  neck,  and  her  feet  under  his  belly.  Spite  of  these 
precautions,  however,  before  long  the  donkey  threw  her, 
and  bound  as  she  was,  she  was  nearly  trampled  to  death 
before  she  could  be  released. 

Meanwhile  precious  time  was  being  wasted  in  a 
wilderness  where  every  minute  w^as  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance. To  carry  the  girl  in  the  fashion  of  the  pre- 
vious evening  was  out  of  the  question,  and  the  patience 
of  every  one  was  exhausted.  "  Cut  her  throat !  cut  her 
throat !  "  was  the  cry  now  raised  by  the  slave  dealers. 
Strange  to  say.  Park  did  not  seem  to  have  anji^hing  to 
urge  against  this  brutal  suggestion — for  Neali  indeed  the 
most  merciful  ending  of  her  troubles — though  being  un- 
willing to  see  it  put  in  force,  he  walked  on  ahead.  A 


150 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


few  minutes  later  one  of  Karfa's  men  came  up  to  him 
carrying  Neali's  scanty  cotton  garment,  which  to  Park 
was  eloquent  of  the  poor  girl's  fate.  He  could  not  bring 
himself  to  make  inquiries  then,  but  later  on  he  learned 
that  Neali  had  not  had  the  good  fortune  to  have  her 
tortures  ended  at  once  by  the  knife.  She  was  deserted, 
and  a  day  of  exposure,  naked  to  the  remorseless  sun, 
without  food  or  drink,  had  to  drag  slowly  on  before 
darkness  drew  a  veil  over  the  last  horrible  scene,  in 
which  she  met  death  under  the  fangs  of  the  wild  beasts 
of  the  Jallonka  Wilderness. 

The  fate  of  the  slave  girl  had  a  wonderfully  stimu- 
lating effect  on  the  rest  of  the  caravan ;  but  the  school- 
master, in  doubts  as  to  how  Allah  would  regard  the 
incident,  fasted  the  whole  day.  In  deep  silence  the 
slaves  travelled  onward  at  a  steady  pace,  each  apprehen- 
sive that  his  too  might  be  the  fate  of  Neali.  No  one 
was  more  apprehensive  than  Park  himself.  Only  by 
the  most  determined  effort  of  will  did  he  keep  himself 
from  succumbing  on  the  march.  Everything  that  could 
obstruct  him  in  the  least — even  his  spear — was  thrown 
away,  but  still  he  could  just  barely  struggle  on.  "The 
poor  slaves,  amidst  their  own  infinitely  greater  suffer- 
ings, would  commiserate  mine,  and  frequently  of  their 
own  accord  bring  water  to  quench  my  thirst,  and  at 
night  collect  branches  and  leaves  to  prepare  me  a  bed 
in  the  wilderness." 

On  the  morning  of  the  26th,  two  of  the  schoolmaster's 
pupils  complained  of  pains  in  their  legs,  and  one  of  the 
slaves  walked  lame,  the  soles  of  his  feet  being  much 
blistered  and  inflamed.  But  there  could  be  no  halting 
for  such  trivial  causes,  and  the  caravan  pushed  onward 
with  hot  haste,  eager  to  escape  as  soon  as  possible  the 


THE  SLAVE  EOUTE. 


151 


hardships  and  dangers  of  the  desert.  In  the  middle  of 
the  day  a  rocky  hill  was  reached,  the  crossing  of  which 
greatly  aggravated  the  sores  on  the  travellers'  feet.  In 
the  afternoon  evidences  of  a  raiding  party  of  horsemen 
were  seen,  and  to  hide  their  track  the  caravan  had  to 
disperse  and  travel  wide  apart  for  some  distance. 

Another  day  of  toil  ended  the  desert  march.  On 
the  27th,  the  village  of  Susita^  in  the  district  of  Kullo, 
was  entered.  The  rest  of  the  road  was  comparatively 
safe.  Next  day  the  Bafing  or  Black  E-iver,  the  prin- 
cipal branch  of  the  Senegal,  was  crossed  by  a  bamboo 
bridge  of  singular  construction.  Trees  tied  end  to  end 
were  made  to  support  a  roadway  of  bamboos — the  centre 
of  the  bridge  floating  on  the  water,  the  ends  resting  on 
the  banks.  On  the  rising  of  the  water  during  the  rains 
this  primitive  bridge  is  carried  away  each  year. 

Though  the  caravan  had  now  got  into  a  well- popu- 
lated district,  their  troubles  were  hardly  over.  They 
were  refused  admittance  at  village  after  village,  and  to 
complete  theii^  discomfiture,  news  came  that  two  hundred 
Jallonkas  had  gathered  to  plunder  them.  This  necessi- 
tated an  alteration  in  their  route,  and  a  forced  night 
march.  After  midnight  a  town  was  reached,  but  as  a 
free  man  and  three  slaves  were  found  to  be  missing, 
a  halt  was  called,  and  w^hile  the  caravan  remained 
concealed  in  a  cotton  field,  a  search  party  returned  to 
look  for  the  runaways.  In  the  morning  the  town  was 
entered,  and  the  day  was  passed  in  resting  from  their 
fatigues.  Here,  to  the  joy  of  all,  the  absentees  turned 
up  safely.  One  of  the  slaves  had  hurt  his  foot,  and 
they  had  thus  lagged  behind  and  lost  the  caravan. 
The  free  man,  foreseeing  the  danger  of  an  outbreak, 
insisted  on  putting  the  slaves  in  irons.    This  they  were 


152 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


inclined  to  resist,  but  a  threat  to  stab  them  all  had  its 
due  effect. 

On  the  3rd  of  May  the  caravan  reached  the  school- 
master's native  village,  Malacotta,  where  in  consequence 
a  hearty  welcome  awaited  them.  Three  days  were  spent 
here  recruiting  the  party.  During  that  time  Park 
learned  the  particulars  of  a  remarkable  story  of  Moslem 
zeal  and  Pagan  chivalry  and  generosity,  well  worthy  of 
being  retold. 

"The  King  of  Futa  Torra,  inflamed  with  a  zeal  for 
propagating  his  religion,  had  sent  an  embassy  to  Damel, 
King  of  the  Jaloffs. 

The  ambassador  was  accompanied  by  two  of  the 
principal  Mohammedans  of  the  country,  who  each  car- 
ried a  knife  fixed  on  the  top  of  a  long  pole.  '  With  this 
knife,'  said  the  ambassador,  *  Abdul  Kader  will  con- 
descend to  shave  the  head  of  Damel,  if  Damel  will 
embrace  the  Mohammedan  rehgion ;  and  with  this  other 
knife  Abdul  Kader  will  cut  the  throat  of  Damel  if  Damel 
refuse  to  embrace  it.    Take  your  choice.' 

"  Damel  replied  that  he  had  no  choice  to  make.  He 
neither  chose  to  have  his  head  shaved  nor  his  throat 
cut ;  and  with  this  answer  the  ambassador  was  civilly 
dismissed.  War  was  accordingly  declared,  and  the 
country  of  Damel  invaded.  The  fortune  of  war,  how- 
ever, went  against  the  earthly  instrument  of  Allah, 
and  his  army  was  not  only  dispersed  w4th  great  loss, 
but  he  himself  taken  prisoner.  In  this  humiliating 
position  Abdul  Kader  was  brought  in  irons  and  thrown 
on  the  ground  before  Damel.  Instead  of  setting  his 
foot  on  the  neck  of  his  royal  piisoner  and  stabbing  him 
with  his  spear,  as  is  the  custom  in  such  cases,  Damel 
addressed  him  as  follows — '  Abdul  Kader,  answer  me 


THE  SLAVE  ROUTE. 


153 


this  question.  If  the  chance  of  war  had  placed  me  in 
your  situation,  and  you  in  mine,  how  would  you  have 
treated  me  ? ' 

*' '  I  would  have  thrust  my  spear  into  your  heart,' 
answered  the  brave  though  fanatical  prince ;  *  and  I 
know  that  a  similar  fate  awaits  me.' 

"  '  Not  so,'  said  Damel.  *  My  spear  is  indeed  red  with 
the  blood  of  your  subjects  killed  in  battle,  and  I  could 
now  give  it  a  deeper  stain  by  dipping  it  in  your  own ; 
but  this  would  not  build  up  my  towns,  nor  bring  to  life 
the  thousands  who  fell  in  the  woods.  I  will  not  there- 
fore kill  you  in  cold  blood,  but  I  will  retain  you  as  my 
slave  until  I  perceive  that  your  presence  in  your  own 
kingdom  will  be  no  longer  dangerous  to  your  neigh- 
bours, and  then  I  will  consider  of  the  proper  way  of 
disposing  of  you.'  A  decision  which  has  been  made  the 
subject  of  the  songs  of  the  musicians,  and  a  matter  of 
applausive  comment  by  all  the  tribes. 

"  Abdul  Kader  was  accordingly  retained,  and  worked 
as  a  slave  for  three  months ;  at  the  end  of  which  period 
Damel  listened  to  the  solicitations  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Futa  Torra,  and  restored  to  them  their  king." 

Of  the  truth  of  this  story  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


BACK  TO  THE  GAMBIA  AND  HOME. 

At  Malacotta,  Park  could  look  forward  with  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  confidence  to  his  safe  return  to  the 
coast.  He  was  once  more  within  the  sphere  of  in- 
fluence of  coast  trade,  where  the  European  was  better 
known,  and  the  hostile  agency  of  the  Moor  was  of  small 
account.  There  were  no  more  jungles  to  cross,  and  he 
was  unaware  of  obstructing  wars  on  the  route.  Through 
good  ^and  evil  report  Karfa  had  remained  his  staunch 
friend,  and  it  was  certain  that  now  that  his  promised 
reward  was  coming  nearer  and  nearer  attainment,  he 
would  not  alter  in  his  honourable  fidelity  to  his  engage- 
ments. It  was  now  only  a  question  of  so  many  more 
days'  journey  till  the  Gambia  would  be  reached,  and  all 
Park's  cares  and  troubles  be  at  an  end. 

On  the  7th  of  May  the  slave  caravan  left  Malacotta, 
and  resumed  its  journey  to  the  coast.  The  Bali,  a 
branch  of  the  Senegal,  was  crossed,  and  Bintingala 
entered  in  the  evening. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  1 2th  the  Faleme  River  was 

forded  about  100  miles  south  of  Park's  fording  point 

on  his  inland  journey.    At  this  place  and  time  of  year 

the  river  was  only  two  feet  deep,  flowing  over  a  bed  of 

sand  and  gravel. 

On  the  same  day  the  caravan  halted  at  the  residence 
,  154 


BACK  TO  THE  GAMBIA  AND  HOME. 


155 


of  a  Mandingo  merchant,  who  had  his  food  served  up  in 
pewter  dishes  in  the  European  fashion.  Kext  morning 
they  were  joined  by  a  Serawuli  slave  caravan.  These 
traders  had  the  reputation  of  being  infinitely  more  cruel 
in  their  treatment  of  slaves  than  the  Mandingoes.  Park 
was  soon  to  see  a  sample  of  their  ways.  The  caravan 
was  travelling  with  great  speed  through  the  dense  woods, 
when  one  of  the  slaves  began  to  show  signs  of  exhaustion, 
and  let  his  load  fall  from  his  head.  A  smart  flogging 
proved  a  temporary  stimulant  to  the  unhappy  victim, 
but  hardly  a  mile  was  passed  before  nature  once  more 
asserted  itself,  and  again  the  load  fell.  A  double  dose 
of  the  lash  proved  a  second  time  efiectual,  and  once 
more  the  slave  struggled  painfully  forward.  At  last 
the  limits  of  his  powers  were  reached,  and  it  became 
clear  that  flog  as  they  might  he  would  remain  im- 
movable. 

The  caravan  could  not  wait  till  he  recovered,  and 
accordingly  one  of  the  Serawulis  undertook  to  wait 
and  bring  him  to  camp  in  the  cool  of  the  evening. 
When  the  slave  dealer  did  arrive  in  camp  he  came 
alone.  No  questions  were  asked,  but  every  one  knew 
that  either  the  unfortunate  man  had  been  killed,  or  was 
left  to  be  devoured  by  wild  beasts. 

Other  examples  of  the  slave  dealers'  methods  were 
almost  daily  exhibited  before  Park's  eyes.  At  one 
place  a  Mandingo,  having  a  slave  torn  from  a  neigh- 
bouring district,  agreed  with  Karfa  to  exchange  him 
for  another  from  a  more  distant  country,  to  which  he 
could  not  run  away.  The  slave  to  be  taken  by  Karfa 
was  called  on  a  trivial  pretext  to  come  into  the  house. 
The  moment  he  entered  the  gate  was  shut,  and  he  was 
told  to  sit  down.    At  once  he  saw  the  danger  of  his 


156 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


situation — not  only  the  more  horrible  fate  of  trans- 
portation across  the  seas,  but  the  loss  of  all  chance  of 
escape  to  his  native  country.  He  would  at  least  make 
one  effort  for  liberty.  With  the  wild  leap  of  a  hunted 
deer  he  cleared  the  fence  of  the  court  and  bolted  for 
the  woods.  But  it  was  useless.  His  enemies  were  too 
many.  A  few  minutes  of  wild  flight,  spurred  on  by 
wolfish  cries,  and  then  he  was  hunted  down  and  brought 
back  in  irons  to  be  handed  over  to  Karfa. 

At  another  place  one  of  the  male  slaves  in  the  cara- 
van was  found  to  be  too  exhausted  to  proceed  further  in 
spite  of  the  usual  physical  stimulants.  A  townsman 
was  found  willing  to  exchange  him  for  a  young  girl. 
No  hint  was  given  her  of  her  approaching  doom  till  the 
last  moment.  Alo  g  with  her  companions  she  had  come 
to  see  the  caravan  depart,  when  all  at  once  her  master 
seized  her  by  the  hand  and  delivered  her  to  the  slave 
dealer.  "  Never  was  a  face  of  serenity  more  suddenly 
changed  into  one  of  the  deepest  distress.  The  terror  she 
manifested  on  having  the  load  put  upon  her  head  and 
the  rope  round  her  neck,  and  the  sorrow  with  which  she 
bade  adieu  to  her  companions,  were  truly  affecting." 

Incidents  like  these  were  what  chiefly  characterised 
Park's  journey  to  the  Gambia.  At  times  the  curious  as 
well  as  the  horrible  side  of  African  life  peeped  out  to 
entertain  him,  as,  for  instance,  when  one  of  the  slatees, 
on  returning  for  the  first  time  to  his  native  place  after 
an  absence  of  three  years,  was  met  at  the  threshold  of 
his  door  by  his  bride-elect,  who  presented  him  with  a 
calabash  of  water  in  which  to  wash  his  hands.  This 
done,  "the  girl,  with  a  tear  of  joy  sparkling  in  her 
eye,  drank  the  water,"  in  token  of  her  fidelity  and 
attachment. 


BACK  TO  THE  GAMBIA  AND  HOME. 


157 


Another  of  the  slatees  turned  out  to  be  an  African 
Enoch  Arden.  For  eight  long  years  he  had  stayed 
away  from  his  wife,  during  which  time  she  heard 
nothing  from  him.  Concluding  after  three  years  that 
he  was  either  dead  or  not  likely  to  return,  she  seem- 
ingly without  reluctance  gave  her  heart  and  hand  to 
another,  by  whom  she  had  two  children.  The  first 
husband  now  claimed  her  as  his.  The  other  objected 
on  the  ground  that  a  three  years'  absence  annulled  a 
marriage.  For  four  days  a  public  palaver  was  held  to 
settle  this  knotty  point,  ending  in  the  decision  that  the 
husbands  had  equal  rights,  and  that  the  wife  had  best 
settle  the  matter  by  making  her  own  choice.  The  lady 
asked  time  to  consider,  but  Park  could  perceive  that  not 
love  but  wealth  would  gain  the  day. 

On  the  2oth  of  May  the  caravan  entered  the  Tenda 
Wilderness,  where  for  two  days  they  traversed  dense 
woods.  With  what  pleasure  must  Park  have  noticed 
that  the  country  shelved  towards  the  south-west — that 
in  fact  he  had  entered  the  basin  of  the  Gambia.  At 
sunset  of  the  first  day  a  pool  was  reached  after  a  very 
hot  and  trying  march.  To  avoid  the  burning  heats  of 
the  day  a  night  march  was  determined  on.  At  eleven 
o'clock  the  slaves  were  released  from  their  irons  and 
driven  forward  in  close  order,  as  much  to  prevent  them 
escaping  as  to  save  them  from  wild  beasts.  In  this 
fashion  they  travelled  till  daybreak,  after  a  rest  con- 
tinuing the  march  to  Tambakunda,  the  place  almost 
reached  by  Jobson  nearly  1 70  years  before,  and  which 
he  believed  to  be  Timbuktu  itself. 

From  Tambakunda  the  road  led  over  a  wild  and  rocky 
country,  everywhere  rising  into  hills,  and  abounding 
with  monkeys  and  wild  beasts.    During  the  next  two 


158 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


marches  the  reception  everywhere  met  with  by  the 
caravan  was  far  from  being  hospitable,  and  they  were 
even  in  some  danger  of  being  plundered. 

On  the  30th  of  May  the  Nerico,  a  branch  of  the 
Gambia,  was  reached.  As  soon  as  it  was  crossed  the 
singing  men  began  to  chant  a  song  expressive  of  their 
delight  at  having  got  safe  into  the  "land  of  the  setting 
sun."  Next  day,  to  his  infinite  joy,  Park  found  himself 
on  the  banks  of  the  Gambia,  at  a  point  where  it  was 
navigable,  though  lower  down  there  were  shallows. 

Three  days  later,  Medina,  the  capital  of  Wulli,  was 
reached,  where  Park  had  been  so  hospitably  received 
seventeen  months  before.  The  caravan  did  not  halt 
here ;  but  Park,  mindful  of  the  old  king's  prayer  on  his 
behalf,  sent  word  to  him  that  his  prayers  had  not  been 
unavailing. 

Next  day  Jindeh  was  reached,  where  the  parting 
with  Dr.  Laidley  had  taken  place.  Here  Karfa  left 
his  slaves  till  a  better  opportunity  of  selling  them  had 
arrived ;  but  determined  not  to  leave  his  white  friend 
till  the  last,  he  accompanied  him  on  his  way  to  Pisania. 

Park  at  this  point  remarks:  "Although  I  was 
now  approaching  the  end  of  my  tedious  and  toilsome 
journey,  and  expected  in  another  day  to  meet  with 
countrymen  and  friends,  I  could  not  part  for  the  last 
time  with  my  unfortunate  fellow-travellers,  doomed  as 
I  knew  most  of  them  to  be  to  a  life  of  captivity  and 
slavery  in  a  foreign  land,  without  great  emotion. 
.  .  .  We  parted  with  reciprocal  expressions  of  regret 
and  benediction.  My  good  wishes  and  prayers  were 
all  that  I  could  bestow  upon  them,  and  it  afforded  me 
some  consolation  to  be  told  that  they  were  sensible  I 
had  no  more  to  give." 


BACK  TO  THE  GAMBIA  AND  HOME. 


159 


On  the  loth,  Park  once  more  shook  hands  with  one 
of  his  countrymen.  He  found  that  it  was  universally 
believed  that  he  had  met  the  same  fate  as  Major 
Houghton  in  Ludamar.  He  also  learned  with  sincere 
sorrow  that  neither  Johnson,  who  had  deserted*  him, 
nor  Demba,  who  had  been  enslaved  by  the  Moors,  had 
returned. 

On  the  12th,  Dr.  Laidley  joined  the  long- lost  traveller, 
and  greeted  him  as  one  risen  from  the  dead.  Park  was 
soon,  under  his  hospitable  hands,  divested  of  his  ragged 
Moorish  garments.  With  them  went  the  luxuriant 
beard  which  had  been  the  delight  and  admiration  of 
natives  and  Moors  alike,  among  whom  nothing  is  more 
envied,  and  he  stood  forth  once  more  the  handsome 
young  Scotchman  his  portrait  shows  him  to  be. 

Karfa  was  now  paid  off,  the  stipulated  reward  being 
doubled,  and  Dr.  Laidley's  interest  also  promised  in 
getting  his  slaves  disposed  of  to  advantage. 

Karfa  was  never  tired  expressing  his  wonderment  at 
all  he  saw,  though  nothing  surprised  him  more  than  the 
incomprehensible  madness  of  a  person  in  Park's  con- 
dition in  life  leaving  all  and  suffering  so  many  hardships 
and  dangers  merely  to  see  the  river  Niger.  "  I  have 
preserved,"  says  Park,  "  these  little  traits  of  character 
in  this  worthy  negro,  not  only  from  regard  to  the  man, 
but  also  because  they  appear  to  me  to  demonstrate  that 
he  possessed  a  mind  above  his  condition,  and  to  such  of 
my  readers  as  love  to  contemplate  human  nature  in  all 
its  varieties,  and  to  trace  its  progress  from  rudeness  to 
refinement,  I  hope  the  account  I  have  given  of  this  poor 
African  will  not  be  unacceptable." 

Looking  back  on  his  long  and  terrible  journey,  Park 
could  afford  to  take  a  lenient  view  of  all  the  people  who 


160 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


had  plundered,  ill-used,  or  inhospitably  treated  him, 
except  the  Moors,  of  whom  he  carried  a  deep-rooted 
horror  and  hatred  to  his  dying  day.  For  the  Man- 
dingoes  and  kindred  tribes  he  could  ever  find  an  excuse 
for  all  he  suffered  at  their  hands,  and  as  a  people  he 
found  them  gentle,  cheerful  in  their  dispositions,  kind- 
hearted,  and  simple,  with  a  natural  sense  of  justice 
which  only  very  great  temptation  could  overcome.  He 
could  not  find  words  strong  enough  to  describe  the 
disinterested  charity  and  tender  solicitude  shown  by 
many  of  them,  especially  the  women,  whom  he  found 
to  be  universally  kind  and  compassionate,  sympathising 
with  his  sufferings,  relieving  his  distresses,  and  con- 
tributing to  his  safety. 

Reviewing  what  he  had  seen  commercially,  he  found 
that  slaves,  gold,  and  ivory,  beeswax  and  honey,  hides, 
gums,  and  dye  woods,  constituted  the  whole  catalogue 
of  exportable  commodities.  Of  other  products,  such  as 
tobacco,  indigo,  and  cotton,  sufficient  only  was  raised  for 
native  consumption.  He  concluded,  nevertheless,  that 
"it  cannot,  however,  admit  of  a  doubt  that  all  the  rich 
and  valuable  productions  both  of  the  East  and  West 
Indies  might  easily  be  naturalised  and  brought  to  the 
utmost  perfection  in  the  tropical  parts  of  this  immense 
continent.  Nothing  is  wanting  to  this  end  but  example 
to  enlighten  the  minds  of  the  natives,  and  instruction  to 
enable  them  to  direct  their  industry  to  proper  objects. 
It  was  not  possible  for  me  to  behold  the  wonderful 
fertility  of  the  soil,  the  vast  herds  of  cattle,  proper  both 
for  food  and  labour,  and  a  variety  of  other  circum- 
stances favourable  to  colonisation  and  agriculture,  and 
reflect  withal  on  the  means  which  presented  themselves 
of  a  vast  inland  navigation,  without  lamenting  that  a 


ACK  TO  THE  GAMBIA  AND  HOME. 


161 


country  so  abundantly  gifted  and  favoured  by  nature 
should  remain  in  its  present  savage  and  neglected  state. 
Much  more  did  I  lament  that  a  people  of  manners  and 
dispositions  so  gentle  and  benevolent  should  either  be 
left  as  they  now  are,  immersed  in  the  gross  and  un- 
comfortable blindness  of  Pagan  superstition,  or  permitted 
to  become  converts  to  a  system  of  bigotry  and  fanaticism 
which,  without  enlightening  the  mind,  often  debases 
the  heart."  And  yet  which  of  the  representatives  of 
the  two  religions,  Islam  and  Christianity,  were  doing 
the  most  good  among  the  heathen  according  to  Park's 
own  showing — the  Mohammedans,  battling  against  the 
inrushing  tide  of  rum  and  gin,  encouraging  education, 
and  spreading  a  knowledge  of  Allah  the  One  God ;  or 
the  Christian  merchants,  fomenting  and  deepening  all 
the  horrors  of  native  barbarism  that  their  trade  in 
slaves  might  be  kept  up,  and  adding  to  the  degrada- 
tion of  the  land  by  the  drink  and  firearms  they  gave  in 
exchange  for  its  people  1 

As  there  was  no  ship  in  the  river  when  Park  arrived, 
he  expected  to  have  to  wait  for  some  months.  In  this, 
however,  he  was  happily  disappointed,  for  an  American 
slave  ship,  the  Gharlestoion,  arrived  on  the  15th.  Slaves 
were  plentiful,  and  in  a  couple  of  days  the  cargo  of 
human  flesh  and  blood  for  the  plantations  of  South 
Carolina  was  made  up  in  exchange  for  rum  and  tobacco. 

Though  the  route  by  America  was  excessively  cir- 
cuitous, it  was  such  a  chance  as  Park  could  not  afford 
to  neglect.  Accordingly,  on  the  17th  of  June  he  bade 
farewell  to  all  his  English  friends,  and  took  passage  in 
the  American  vessel. 

He  had  now  reason  to  suppose  that  all  his  cares, 
anxieties,  and  dangers  were  over,  and  nothing  but  rc^t 


162  MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


and  good  treatment  before  him.  Once  more,  however, 
he  was  dogged  by  his  usual  ill -hick.  The  passage 
down  the  river  was  tedious  and  fatiguing,  the  weather 
being  exceedingly  hot,  moist,  and  unhealthy.  The  result 
was  that  before  Goree  was  reached,  four  of  the  seamen, 
the  surgeon,  and  three  of  the  slaves  had  died  of  fever. 
At  Goree,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  provisions, 
the  vessel  was  detained  four  weary  months,  so  that  it  was 
the  end  of  October  before  she  eventually  set  sail  for 
America. 

The  Chariest otvn^s  cargo  consisted  of  130  slaves,  of 
whom  twenty-five  had  been  free  Mohammedans,  able  to 
read  and  write  a  little  Arabic.  Some  of  the  others  had 
seen  Park  en  route,  and  many  had  heard  of  him  in  their 
distant  villages.  But  though  he  had  not  a  word  to  say 
against  the  slave  trade.  Park  had  a  feeling  heart  for  the 
miseries  of  those  whom,  with  his  Calvinistic  ideas,  he 
believed  predestined  to  a  life  of  shame  and  suffering. 
Being  able  to  speak  to  them  in  their  native  language, 
he  did  his  best  as  a  man  and  a  doctor  to  comfort  them. 
And  in  truth  they  had  need  of  all  the  consolation  he 
could  bestow.  The  manner  in  which  they  were  crowded, 
confined,  and  chained  in  the  hold  of  the  ship  produced 
terrible  sufferings,  while  the  foul  air,  the  wretched 
sanitary  conditions,  and  the  want  of  exercise  brought 
on  general  sickness.  "  Besides  the  three  who  died  on 
the  Gambia,  and  six  or  eight  at  Goree,  eleven  perished 
at  sea,  and  many  of  the  survivors  were  reduced  to  a 
very  weak  and  emaciated  condition." 

To  make  matters  worse  for  all  concerned,  the  Charles- 
town  sprang  a  leak  three  weeks  from  Goree,  and  threatened 
to  founder  in  mid- ocean.  To  avoid  this,  the  ablest  of 
the  negroes  were  taken  from  their  chains  and  kept  at 


BACK  TO  THE  GAMBIA  AND  HOME. 


163 


the  pumps  till  they  could  be  hounded  on  no  longer,  and 
sank  down  exhausted  and  half  dead.  In  spite  of  every- 
thing, however,  the  leak  continued  to  gain,  and  the 
misery  of  all  on  board  was  indescribable.  As  affording 
the  only  chance  of  safety,  the  Cliaiiestoicn  was  turned 
from  its  course  and  steered  for  Antigua,  which  was 
reached  thirty-five  days  out  from  Goree.  But  even  in 
sight  of  harbour  the  ship  narrowly  escaped  destruction 
by  striking  on  a  sunken  rock. 

Park  remained  at  Antigua  for  two  days,  when  on 
the  24th  November  he  was  taken  up  by  a  passing  mail 
ship.  After  a  short  but  tempestuous  voyage  he  arrived 
at  Falmouth  on  the  22nd  December,  having  been  absent 
from  England  two  years  and  nine  months. 


CHAPTER  XYII. 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME. 

Once  landed  at  Falmouth,  Park  lost  no  time  in  proceed- 
ing to  London.  In  those  days  there  was  no  telegraph 
to  apprise  the  world  of  his  arrival,  nor  newspaper 
reporters  to  interview  him,  and  give  their  readers  a 
description  of  his  appearance  and  a  foretaste  of  his 
adventures. 

He  reached  London  before  daybreak  on  the  25th 
December,  and  directed  his  steps  to  the  house  of  his 
brother-in-law,  Mr.  Dickson.  Not  caring  to  disturb  his 
relative  at  that  early  hour,  he  wandered  about  the 
streets  for  some  time,  till  finding  one  of  the  gates  to  the 
British  Museum  Gardens  open,  he  entered. 

As  it  happened,  Dickson  had  charge  of  these  gardens, 
and  on  this  particular  morning  had  business  which  took 
him  there  unusually  early.  Conceive  his  amazement 
on  coming  face  to  face  with  what  for  a  moment  he 
almost  took  to  be  a  vision  or  ghost  of  his  young  relative, 
long  since  believed  to  be  dead.  It  did  not  take  long  to 
convince  him,  however,  that  here  was  no  ghost,  but  the 
actual  traveller  himself,  safe  and  well,  his  great  mission 
carried  through  to  a  successful  conclusion. 

The  interest,  delight,  and  surprise  of  the  Association, 

as  well  as  of  the  public  generally,  were  no  less  keen. 

For  some  time  it  had  been  looked  on  as  a  certainty  that 

164 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME. 


165 


he  had  been  murdered,  and  now  the  utmost  curiosity 
prevailed  to  hear  his  adventures,  and  at  last  learn 
something  authentic  about  the  mysterious  river  of  the 
negroes. 

It  looked  indeed  as  if  Park's  own  prediction  to  his 
brother  before  leaving  for  Africa,  that  he  would  "  acquire 
a  greater  name  than  any  ever  did,"  was  to  be  verified. 
In  the  absence  of  more  definite  news,  the  hand  to 
hand  reports  which  circulated  only  tended  to  exaggerate 
his  feats  and  discoveries. 

So  eager  became  the  demand  for  information  that  it 
was  determined  to  issue  a  preliminary  report  of  the 
principal  geographical  results  of  the  expedition.  This 
was  written  by  Bryan  Edwards,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Association,  a  gentleman  of  no  inconsiderable  literary 
attainments,  and  author  of  a  History  of  the  British 
Colonies  in  the  West  Indies." 

To  the  collaboration  of  Edwards  was  added  that  of 
Major  Rennell,  who  worked  out  with  very  great  care 
the  traveller's  routes,  and  the  geography  of  the  region 
generally.  In  addition,  Bennell  added  a  memoir  on  the 
upper  course  of  the  Niger  beyond  Park's  furthest  point, 
collating  with  his  information  that  of  the  Arabian 
geographers. 

But  the  public  demanded  something  more  than  the 
dry  bones  of  geography  to  satisfy  their  hungry  appetite. 
They  wanted  also  the  flesh  and  blood  of  his  narrative — 
how  he  lived  and  moved,  what  he  felt  and  suffered, 
what  dangers  he  faced,  what  hardships  endured,  the 
wonders  he  saw.  Books  of  travel  had  not  then  deluged 
the  market  and  saturated  men's  minds  with  details 
about  the  remotest  corners  of  Inner  Africa.  It  was 
practically  virgin  soil  to  the  reader,  who  could  in  nowise 


166 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


guess  beforehand  what  startling  revelations  were  in 
store  for  him.  Compared  with  the  modern  devourer 
of  books  of  travel,  his  sensations  would  be  as  those 
of  the  first  explorer  of  the  Gambia  to  the  subdued 
expectancy  of  our  latest  traveller. 

To  gratify  this  very  natural  curiosity  Park  now 
devoted  himself.  His  materials,  apart  from  his  memory, 
were  but  scanty.  They  consisted,  in  fact,  of  short  notes 
or  memoranda,  written  on  odds  and  ends  of  paper, 
which  must  often  have  been  far  from  legible,  consider- 
ing how  they  were  carried  for  months  in  the  crown  of 
a  battered  hat,  exposed  to  damp  and  all  manner  of 
accidents. 

In  the  task  of  authorship  Park  was  no  doubt 
materially  aided  by  Mr.  Edwards,  with  whom  he  lived 
on  terms  of  great  friendship.  In  one  or  two  places 
the  pen  of  Edwards  is  clearly  traceable,  but  these  are 
few  and  far  between.  Where  he  lent  the  most  valuable 
assistance  was  in  the  pruning,  rearrangement,  and  re- 
vision which  the  work  of  a  novice  in  composition  would 
almost  necessarily  require.  In  this  respect,  however. 
Park  is  not  alone  among  travellers.  Few  indeed  among 
them  have  had  such  a  complete  mastery  of  the  pen 
and  of  the  English  language  as  to  trust  absolutely  in 
their  own  literary  powers  and  judgment,  although,  as 
in  Park's  case,  the  assistance  required  has  seldom  gone 
beyond  guidance  and  revision. 

Apart  from  his  literary  influence,  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  Edwards  very  materially  moulded  Park's 
views  on  at  least  one  important  subject — the  slave  trade. 
At  that  time  the  question  of  abolition  had  become  a 
burning  one  in  the  country,  and  Edwards  was  one  of 
the  warmest  advocates  of  the  old  order  of  things.  He 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME. 


167 


would  give  Africa  Light,  but  no  Liberty.  While  actively 
employed  in  trying  to  open  up  the  Dark  Continent  to 
European  influence,  he  strenuously  strove  to  ensure 
that  that  influence  should  remain  of  the  most  criminal 
and  degrading  nature. 

Let  the  reader  imagine  what  would  have  been  the 
consequence  to  Africa  if  the  advocates  of  slavery  had 
had  their  way,  and  the  exploration  of  the  Continent 
had  only  been  the  forerunner  of  more  widespread  rami- 
fications of  the  slave  trade.  However  incredible  it  may 
appear,  such  might  easily  have  been  the  case.  People 
once  accustomed  to  an  evil  soon  forget  that  it  is  such, 
and  begin  to  look  upon  it  as  one  of  the  necessary  and 
unavoidable  ills  of  life.  Take,  for  example,  the  survival 
of  the  African  gin  trade  to  this  very  day,  increasing 
and  flourishing  long  after  its  dissociation  from  its  well- 
matched  sister  traffic  in  slaves,  and  everywhere  dogging 
the  explorer's  footsteps.  It  is  doubtful  if  even  the  slave 
trade  has  done  more  to  brutalise  and  degrade  the  negro ; 
and  yet  even  in  our  time  there  is  only  a  partial  awaken- 
ing to  the  frightful  evils  of  the  iniquitous  traffic. 

This  culpable  blindness  or  carelessness  on  our  part  is 
doubtless  largely  fostered  by  the  comforting  and  com- 
fortable belief  that  our  missionaries  are  doing  a  great 
and  noble  work  in  Africa,  and  that  mere  contact  with 
the  European  and  European  commerce  must  of  necessity 
have  an  elevating  effect  upon  the  lower  races.  The  truth 
is  that  for  every  negro  nominally  or  genuinely  brought 
under  the  influence  of  Christianity,  ten  thousand  have 
been  driven  by  drink  to  depths  of  moral  and  physical 
depravity  unheard  of  among  uncontaminated  native 
tribes,  and  that  so  far  contact  with  the  European 
and  his  commerce  has  resulted  not  in  elevation  to 


168 


MUXGO  PARK  AND  THE  XIGER. 


the  African,  but  in  degradation  of  the  most  loathsome 
kind. 

To  what  extent  Park  was  really  influenced  in  his 
opinions  on  the  slave  question  by  Edwards  it  would  be 
difficult  to  say.  It  matters  little,  however,  for  whether 
he  really  believed  in  the  righteousness  of  slavery  or  was 
merely  reasoned  into  neutrality,  his  position  was  equally 
indefensible.  Xay,  more,  if,  as  his  friends  say,  he  really 
believed  that  the  trade  was  an  unjust  one,  the  position 
he  assumed  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  criminal. 
These  urge,  as  if  it  were  an  extenuating  circumstance, 
that  in  private  conversation  he  even  expressed  the 
greatest  abhorrence  of  the  traffic.  This,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, seems  improbable.  Such  an  attitude  is  utterly 
unlike  what  we  should  expect  from  a  man  of  Park's 
marked  individuality  and  strong  earnest  truthfulness. 
Moreover,  it  seems  sufficiently  clear  that  the  public 
opinion  of  his  day  ascribed  to  him  a  belief  in  the 
righteousness  of  the  principle  of  slavery,  and  if  it  was 
wrong,  it  seems  strange  that  he  took  no  means  to  cor- 
rect it.  But  that  it  was  not  wrong  seems  evident  from 
a  speech  delivered  on  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade 
by  George  Hibbert  in  Parliament  in  1803. 

The  following  is  an  extract — valuable,  too.  as  throwing 
light  upon  the  share  of  Edwards  in  the  writing  of  Park's 
book  : — 

"  I  have  read  and  heard  that  we  are  to  look  to  Park's 
facts  and  not  to  his  opinions ;  and  it  has  been  insinu- 
ated that  his  editor,  Mr.  Edwards,  had  foisted  those 
opinions  (relating  to  the  slave  trade)  into  his  book.  It 
happened  to  me  once  to  converse  with  Mr.  Park  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Linnean  Society,  v,'hen  this  very  topic 
was  started,  and  he  assured  me  that,  not  being  in  the 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME. 


169 


habit  of  literary  composition,  he  was  obliged  to  employ 
some  one  to  put  his  manuscript  into  a  form  fit  for  the 
public  eye,  but  that  every  sheet  of  the  publication  had 
undergone  his  strict  revision,  and  that  not  only  every 
fact  but  every  sentiment  was  his  own." 

AVe  must,  therefore,  till  more  convincing  proof  than 
hearsay  evidence  is  forthcoming,  believe  that  Mungo 
Park  was  a  believer  in  the  slave  trade.  Such  a  posi- 
tion we  can  understand  and  make  all  due  allowance  for 
as  the  result  of  the  ideas  of  the  time,  and  of  those  by 
whom  he  was  immediately  surrounded — to  believe  else 
were  to  place  Park  on  a  distinctly  lower  pedestal  than 
that  to  which  he  is  entitled  by  his  many  meritorious 
characteristics.  • 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  abstract  of  Park's 
narrative,  he  left  London  on  a  visit  to  his  family  at 
Foulshiels,  where  his  mother  still  lived,  though  his 
father  had  been  dead  for  some  years.  Here  he  remained 
the  whole  of  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1798,  working 
assiduously  at  the  narrative  of  his  travels.  This  was 
probably  anything  but  an  agreeable  task  to  him  after 
the  eventful  life  he  had  led  for  three  years,  and  un- 
accustomed as  he  was  to  literary  work.  But  Park  was 
not  the  man  to  shirk  any  work,  however  iiksome,  if  it 
in  any  way  appeared  to  him  in  the  light  of  a  duty. 
His  mornings  he  devoted  to  writing,  his  evenings  to 
strolls  along  the  bank  of  his  much-loved  Yarrow,  where, 
rarely  troubled  by  native  or  by  passing  stranger,  he 
could  undisturbed  recall  the  various  events  which 
marked  his  African  wanderings,  and  on  the  dreamy 
rush  of  the  mountain  stream  let  his  thoughts  glide 
back  to  the  majestic  sweep  of  the  Joliba  moving 
eastward  towards  its  unknown  bourne.    What  hours 

M 


170 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


he  must  have  spent  thus,  seeking  in  his  mind's  eye 
to  pierce  the  dark  veil  which  so  mysteriously  shrouded 
the  great  African  river  beyond  Timbuktu,  and  follow  it 
to  its  union  with  the  ocean,  or  its  gradual  disappearance 
in  the  Central  Deserts. 

At  times  restlessness  and  a  feeling  of  revolt  took 
possession  of  him,  and  then  the  only  charm  that  could 
exorcise  the  demon  of  unrest  within  him  or  soothe  his 
wild  vague  longings,  was  a  long  swift  walk  among  the 
wild  romantic  scenery  around.  Up  Yarrow's  winding 
dale,  on  the  bold  front  of  Newark  Hill,  or  the  heathery 
summit  of  the  Broomy  Law,  his  was  the  keen  pleasure 
of  a  soul  that  knows  "  a  rapture  on  the  lonely  shore." 
The  distant  bleat  of  sheep,  the  plaintive  call  of  the 
curlew,  and  the  whirr  of  grouse,  harmonised  well  with 
the  mood  possessing  him,  and  touched  his  heart  with 
the  wild  pathos  of  Nature.  Happiest  when  alone,  he 
found  companions  in  all  the  sounds  around  him.  The 
breeze,  the  rushing  stream,  the  wild  calls  of  bird  and 
beast,  all  alike  spoke  to  him,  and  adapted  themselves  to 
his  every  mood. 

All  this  may  be  vaguely  discerned  by  virtue  of  the 
gleams  of  light  which  have  momentarily  shot  across  the 
darkness  of  the  past,  and  preserved  a  blurred  though 
speaking  print  of  the  great  traveller  at  home  among  his 
native  hills. 

But  although  thus  isolated  from  the  world  at  large, 
Park  was  not  entirely  cut  off  from  communication  with 
his  fellow-men.  His  chief  resort  when  in  a  mood  for 
society  was  the  house  of  his  friend  and  master  in 
medicine,  Dr.  Anderson,  who  still  practised  in  Selkirk, 
within  easy  reach  of  Foulshiels.  As  one  result  of  these 
frequent  visits,  the  friendship  of  former  days  for  Miss 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME. 


171 


Anderson  speedily  developed  into  a  warmer  feeling,  and 
summer  saw  them  engaged. 

Towards  the  latter  part  of  1798,  Park  returned  to 
London  to  make  the  final  arrangements  for  the  publica- 
tion of  his  narrative.  Even  then,  however,  much  had 
to  be  done  with  the  assistance  of  Edwards  before  the 
manuscript  was  finally  ready  for  the  press,  and  spring 
had  come  before  the  book  saw  the  light. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  enthusiasm 
with  which  it  was  received,  or  the  interest  in  Park  and 
Africa  which  it  aroused.  Two  editions  were  sold  off  in 
rapid  succession,  and  were  followed  by  several  others  in 
the  course  of  the  following  ten  years. 

Apart  from  its  being  almost  the  first  of  African  books 
of  travel,  and  from  the  absolute  novelty  of  all  it  con- 
tained, the  narrative  was  told  with  a  charm  and  naivete 
in  themselves  sufficient  to  captivate  the  most  fastidious 
reader.  Modesty  and  truthfulness  peeped  from  every 
sentence.  Its  author  claimed  no  praise,  no  admiration, 
beyond  that  due  to  him  for  having  done  his  duty.  He 
took  to  himself  no  credit  for  all  the  virtues  he  had 
shown.  So  afraid  was  he  indeed  that  he  might  be 
charged  with  being  the  author  of  what  are  called 
"travellers'  tales,"  that  he  deliberately  suppressed 
several  remarkable  adventures.  On  this  point  he  said 
to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  "that  in  all  cases  where  he  had 
information  to  communicate  which  he  thought  of  im- 
portance to  the  public,  he  had  stated  the  facts  boldly, 
leaving  it  to  his  readers  to  give  such  credit  to  his 
statements  as  they  might  appear  justly  to  deserve,  but 
that  he  would  not  shock  their  credulity  or  render  his 
travels  more  marvellous  by  introducing  circumstances 
which,  however  true,  were  of  little  or  no  moment." 


172  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Happily  Ins  narrative  required  no  aid  from  such  sup- 
pressed adventures,  however  strange  they  might  be,  or 
however  much  we  should  have  liked  to  know  them. 
He  had  incident  enough  to  make  half-a-dozen  of  the 
spun  out  books  of  modern  travel.  Neither  then  nor 
since  has  any  African  explorer  had  such  a  romantic 
tale  to  tell,  nor  has  any  out  of  all  the  long  list  of 
adventurers  who  have  followed  told  his  tale  so  well. 
Some  there  have  been  who  have  flourished  more  thea- 
trically across  the  African  stage,  and  by  virtue  of 
striking  dramatic  effects,  and  a  certain  spice  of  blood- 
shed, have  struck  the  imagination  of  those  who  are 
content  with  the  superficial  show  of  things,  and  are 
not  too  critical  as  to  their  significance.  But  for 
actual  hardships  undergone,  for  dangers  faced,  and 
difficulties  overcome,  together  with  an  exhibition  of  the 
virtues  which  make  a  man  great  in  the  rude  battle  of 
life,  Mungo  Park  stands  without  a  rival.  In  one  re- 
spect only — that  of  motive — does  another  surpass  hipa. 
Here  Livingstone  stands  head  and  shoulders  above  his 
predecessor,  whose  aspirations  after  personal  name  and 
fame,  and  apathetic  attitude  towards  the  anti-slavery 
movement,  will  ill  bear  comparison  with  the  noble 
longings  which  inspired  the  great  missionary  to  travel, 
that  the  negro  heathen  might  be  brought  within  the 
pale  of  Christian  brotherhood,  and  stirred  him  to  the 
consecration  of  his  life  in  healing  "  the  great  open  sore 
of  the  Universe." 

Not  that  Park  was  altogether  awanting  in  all  that 
tends  towards  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  On  the  con- 
trary, throughout  his  whole  narrative  we  fail  to  find 
the  faintest  trace  of  vulgar  ambition  or  ignoble  self- 
seeking.    He  deliberately  suppressed  incidents  which 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME. 


173 


would  have  added  greatly  to  his  fame,  especially  among 
those  whose  imagination  is  only  appealed  to  by  the 
marvellous.  His  whole  nature  shrank  from  notoriety. 
He  was  retired  and  reserved  in  manner,  and  instead  of 
seeking  to  play  the  role  of  the  "  lion  "  in  society,  we  find 
that  he  always  looked  forward  to  a  time  when,  his  labours 
ended,  he  should  be  able  to  seek  the  seclusion  and  retire- 
ment of  the  country — scarcely  the  goal  this  of  a  merely 
selfish  ambition. 

As  little  was  he  actuated  by  the  desire  of  gain,  as 
Ruskin  would  have  us  believe.  Except  perhaps  in  one 
conspicuous  instance,  African  travel  has  never  been 
known  to  lead  to  the  attainment  of  riches,  and  cer- 
tainly to  Park  money  was  never  held  out  as  an  in- 
ducement. The  spark  that  quickened  his  manhood  to 
heroism,  and  fired  him  "to  scorn  delights  and  live 
laborious  days,"  was  the  worthy  ambition  of  a  noble 
mind  to  work  for  the  good  of  his  country  and  the 
advancement  of  knowledge,  rewarded  solely  by  the 
approbation  of  his  own  conscience  and  the  esteem  of 
good  men. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  a  hundi-ed  years  ago 
Christian  philanthropy  had  not  become  so  cosmopolitan 
— so  world-embracing — as  to  take  within  its  sphere  all 
who  bear  the  name  of  man,  without  respect  of  race, 
religion,  or  degree  of  civilisation.  From  what  we  know 
of  his  intense  religious  convictions  and  kindly  nature, 
Park,  had  he  lived  at  the  present  day,  would  probabl}' 
have  been  a  missionary  aflame  for  the  cause  of  Christ 
and  ready  to  lay  down  his  life  for  it,  or  a  traveller 
preaching  a  crusade,  not  only  against  the  slave  trade, 
which  is  so  often  ignorantly  ascribed  to  the  influence 
of  Islam,  but  against  the  gin  trade  likewise,  which  with 


174 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


quite  as  much  plausibility  might  be  associated  with 
Christianity. 

At  the  period  of  the  publication  of  Park's  narrative 
the  question  of  Abolition  was  in  every  man's  mind. 
The  horrors  of  the  middle  passage — the  iniquities  per- 
petrated in  the  plantations  by  men  calling  themselves 
Englishmen — were  being  painted  in  colours  by  no  means 
too  dark.  Park's  book  came  opportunely  to  add  to  the 
literature  of  the  subject,  and  undoubtedly,  in  spite  of 
the  anti-abolition  opinions  he  was  believed  to  hold,  the 
facts  he  disclosed  regarding  the  horrors  of  the  slave 
route  added  materially  to  the  arguments  of  the  Aboli- 
tionists. Coming,  indeed,  as  was  believed,  from  one  of 
the  opposite  party,  they  were  of  all  the  more  value,  the 
natural  assumption  being  that  the  worst  aspects  had 
been  softened  down  and  as  good  a  case  made  out  for 
slavery  as  was  possible  without  direct  violation  of  the 
truth.  It  was  abundantly  clear  to  all  unprejudiced 
minds  that  the  conditions  under  which  the  trade  was 
carried  on,  and  the  evil  results  flowing  from  it  as  de- 
scribed by  Park,  were  iniquitous  and  shameful  in  the 
extreme.  To  such  Park's  opinions  were  of  small  account 
compared  with  his  facts,  and  we  may  safely  conclude 
that  these  latter  very  materially  contributed  to  the 
sweeping  away  of  the  vile  traffic. 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME— ( Continued). 

After  the  publication  of  his  narrative  there  was  nothing 
to  detain  Park  longer  in  London,  while  there  was  much 
to  attract  him  to  Scotland.  Accordingly  he  returned  to 
Foulshiels  in  the  summer  of  1799. 

On  the  2nd  of  August  of  that  year  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Anderson.  Of  the  personality  of  this  lady  we 
know  little  beyond  the  simple  facts  that  she  was  tall 
and  handsome,  amiable  in  disposition,  with  no  special 
mental  endowments,  and  if  anything  somewhat  frivolous 
and  pleasure-loving — characteristics  very  unlike  what 
we  should  have  expected  in  the  wife  of  such  a  man  as 
Park. 

In  personal  appearance  the  young  explorer  must  have 
been  quite  a  match  for  his  wife.  The  portrait  of  him 
which  has  come  down  to  us  shows  a  head  of  noble  pro- 
portions. The  fine  brow  speaks  of  his  mental  powers ; 
the  prominent,  finely  chiselled  nose,  firm,  well-shaped 
mouth,  and  powerful  jaws,  indicate  the  iron  will  and 
marked  individuality  which  he  showed  himself  to  pos- 
sess. No  less  striking  and  attractive  are  the  eyes,  which 
look  forth  so  calmly,  aglow  with  truthfulness,  self-pos- 
session, and  confidence.  In  person  he  was  tall,  reaching 
quite  six  feet,  and  exceedingly  well  proportioned.  His 

whole  appearance  was  prepossessing. 

175 


176 


MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


It  is  impossible  to  say  what  were  Park's  plans  for  his 
future  life  when  he  took  to  himself  a  wife.  Probably 
they  were  but  ill-defined  even  to.  himself.  It  may  be 
safely  concluded,  however,  that  he  had  then  no  intention 
of  returning  to  Africa.  All  the  horrors  of  his  recent 
experiences  were  still  too  strongly  upon  him  to  make 
the  idea  of  a  new  journey  welcome.  Moreover,  the  after 
penalty  of  those  months  of  starvation  and  atrocious 
fare  had  still  to  be  paid  by  inveterate  dyspepsia  and  its 
concomitant  evils  of  gloom  and  despondency.  While 
under  its  influence  his  sleep  was  much  broken,  and  too 
often  night  was  made  one  hideous  nightmare  by  dreams 
of  being  back  once  more  in  captivity  among  the  Moors 
of  Ludamar,  and  subjected  to  the  old  tortures  and 
indignities. 

Probably,  therefore,  when  he  married,  he  did  so  in 
the  belief  that  there  would  be  no  occasion  for  separation — 
no  likelihood  of  his  ever  entering  upon  any  engagements 
which  should  make  him  unable  to  fulfil  his  duty  to  his 
wife  as  a  loving,  ever-present  protector  and  support. 

At  no  time  does  Park  ever  seem  to  have  been  ena- 
moured of  his  profession,  and  after  the  life  he  had 
recently  led  he  felt  a  repugnance  to  settling  down  to 
its  uncongenial  routine. 

For  the  moment,  however,  he  did  not  feel  called  upon 
to  come  to  an  immediate  decision  as  to  his  future  work 
in  life.  The  liberal  remuneration  which  he  had  received 
from  the  African  Association,  together  with  the  profits 
of  his  book,  had  placed  him  for  the  time  being  in  easy 
circumstances.  He  could  therefore  afford  to  wait  to 
see  what  might  turn  up.  He  had  become  well  known. 
He  had  powerful  friends.  There  was  accordingly  every 
likelihood  that  something  congenial  would  be  found  for 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME. 


177 


him.  Meanwhile  he  resolved  to  settle  down  quietly  at 
Foulshiels. 

At  this  period  his  mother  was  still  alive,  and  the 
farm  was  worked  by  one  of  his  brothers.  Most  of  the 
family  had  done  well.  One  sister,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  had  married  Mr.  Dickson,  who  had  risen  both  to 
moderate  affluence  and  to  considerable  fame  as  a  botanist. 
Another  had  found  a  husband  in  a  well-to-do  farmer 
in  the  neighbourhood.  His  brother  Adam  had  gone 
through  the  same  course  as  himself,  and  had  become 
established  as  a  doctor  in  Gravesend  ;  while  a  second 
brother,  Alexander,  had  been  made  under-sheriff  for  the 
county,  the  sheriff-principal  being  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Of  this  brother  Scott  himself  gives  us  a  sketch  in 
his  introduction  to  the  Lady  of  the  Lake,"  when  re- 
calling his  doubts  of  the  poem's  success  : — 

"  I  remember  that  about  the  same  time  a  friend 
(Arch.  Park)  started  in  to  '  heeze  up  my  hope,'  like  the 
sportsman  with  his  cutty  gun  in  the  old  song.  He  was 
bred  a  farmer,  but  a  man  of  powerful  understanding, 
natural  good  taste,  and  warm  poetical  feeling,  perfectly 
competent  to  supply  the  wants  of  an  imperfect  or  irre- 
gular education.  He  was  a  passionate  admirer  of  field 
sports,  which  we  often  pursued  together."  And  then 
Scott  goes  on  to  tell  how  he  was  in  the  habit  of  reading 
the  poem  to  him  to  experiment  as  to  the  effect  produced 
on  one  who  was  "but  too  favourable  a  representative  of 
readers  at  large."  Archibald  Park  remained  in  Scott's 
employment  for  many  years,  and  was  frequently  his 
companion  in  his  mountain  rides. 

In  1799,  the  Government  made  certain  proposals  to 
Park  relative  to  his  going  out  in  some  official  capacity 
to  New  South  Wales.    Of  this,  however,  nothing  came, 


178  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


though  whether  the  fault  lay  with  the  Government  or 
with  the  explorer  is  not  known. 

The  natural  consequences  of  idleness  to  a  man  of 
Park's  personality  and  past  life  soon  became  apparent. 
With  a  wife  of  no  particular  depth  of  character  and 
no  special  mental  attainments,  however  attractive  and 
amiable  she  might  otherwise  be,  there  could  be  but 
small  absorption  of  his  thoughts.  With  no  other 
society,  and  no  work  to  keep  him  occupied,  there  could 
be  but  one  result — restlessness  and  revolt  against  the 
position  in  which  he  found  himself,  and  the  gradual 
upgrowth  of  the  old  longings  and  ideas — the  irrepres- 
sible fever  of  travel.  Coincidently  he  began  to  forget 
the  hardships  and  dangers  he  had  experienced,  and  as 
they  grew  less  and  less  vivid,  and  gradually  dropped 
into  the  background  of  his  memory,  the  fascination  of 
discovery,  of  travel  in  strange  lands  and  among  strange 
peoples — the  wish  to  settle  the  unsolved  mystery  of  the 
Niger — began  anew  to  assert  their  power  and  possess 
him  with  ever-growing  force. 

For  the  time  the  African  Association  was  resting  on 
their  oars  as  far  as  prosecuting  their  work  from  West 
Africa  was  concerned,  though  in  1798  Horneman  had 
been  despatched  to  penetrate  to  the  Sudan  from  Egypt. 

No  doubt  this  was  partly  due  to  the  enormous  difficul- 
ties and  ever  present  dangers  which  Park  had  described, 
partly  also  perhaps  on  account  of  the  war  then  being 
waged  with  France. 

In  1800  Goree  had  been  captured,  an  event  which 
inspired  Park  to  write  (July  31,  1800)  to  Sir  Joseph 
Banks,  pointing  out  its  importance  in  relation  to  re- 
newed attempts  to  penetrate  the  interior  of  the  Con- 
tinent.   After  describing  his  views  on  the  subject,  he 


MUNGO  PAKK  AT  HOME. 


179 


adds — "  If  such  are  the  views  of  Government,  I  hope  that 
my  exertions  in  some  station  or  other  may  be  of  use  to 
my  country." 

In  1 8c  I  the  negotiations  with  the  Government  rela- 
tive to  the  New  South  Wales  mission  were  resumed. 
A  visit  to  London  was  found  necessary  for  a  satisfactory 
discussion  of  the  matter,  and  accordingly  we  find  Park  * 
in  the  metropolis  in  the  early  spring. 

How  deep  and  tender  was  his  affection  for  his  win- 
some wife  is  shown  in  a  letter  written  to  her  during  the 
visit — one  of  the  few  glimpses  that  have  come  down  to  us 
of  the  more  private  side  of  the  explorer's  character. 

The  letter  is  dated  March  12th,  1801,  and  is  as 
follows : — 

"  My  lovely  Ailie, — Nothing  gives  me  more  pleasure 
than  to  write  to  you,  and  the  reason  why  I  delayed  it  a 
day  last  time  was  to  get  some  money  to  send  to  you. 
You  say  you  are  wishing  to  spend  a  note  upon  yourself. 
My  sweet  Ailie,  you  may  be  sure  I  approve  of  it.  AVhat 
is  mine  is  yours,  and  I  receive  much  pleasure  from  your 
goodness  in  consulting  me  about  such  a  trifle.  I  wish  I 
had  thousands  to  give  you,  but  I  know  that  my  Ailie 
will  be  contented  with  what  we  have,  and  we  shall  live 
in  the  hope  of  seeing  better  days.  I  long  very  much  to 
be  with  you,  my  love,  and  I  was  in  great  hopes  of  having 
things  settled  before  now,  but  Sir  Joseph  (Banks)  is  ill, 
and  I  can  do  nothing  till  he  recovers. 

"I  am  happy  to  know  you  will  go  to  New  South 
Wales  with  me,  my  sweet  wife.  You  are  everything 
that  I  could  desire ;  and  wherever  we  go,  you  may  be 
sure  of  one  thing,  that  I  shall  always  love  you.  When- 
ever I  have  fixed  on  this  or  any  other  situation  I  shall 


180 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


write  to  you.  In  the  meantime,  let  nobody  know  till 
things  are  settled,  as  there  is  much  between  the  cup  and 
the  lip. 

"  My  lovely  Ailie,  you  are  constantly  in  my  thoughts. 
I  am  tired  of  this  place,  but  cannot  lose  the  present 
opportunity  of  doing  something  for  our  advantage. 
•  When  that  is  accomplished  I  shall  not  lose  one  moment. 
My  darling,  when  we  meet  I  shall  be  the  happiest  man 
on  earth.  Write  soon,  for  I  count  the  days  till  I  hear 
from  you,  my  lovely  Ailie." 

Again  the  negotiations  with  the  Government  fell 
through,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  for  Park 
to  return  once  more  to  Foulshiels  disappointed  and  dis- 
couraged, but  possessed  more  than  ever  by  the  fever  of 
unrest — more  and  more  under  the  influence  of  the  Niger 
magnet — against  which  the  sole  counteracting  forces 
were  love  for  his  wife,  the  dread  of  being  separated 
from  her,  and  his  duty  as  a  husband. 

It  was  in  this  not  very  suitable  mood  that  he  was 
forced  to  face  the  fact  that  he  must  no  longer  depend 
on  the  vague  hope  of  finding  a  congenial  opening,  but 
must  put  his  hand  to  something,  however  alien  to  his 
tastes  and  aspirations.  For  a  time  he  thought  of  taking 
a  farm,  but  at  last  reluctantly  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  his  best  course  would  be  to  resume  his  profession 
as  a  doctor.  An  opening  presented  itself  in  the  neigh- 
bouring town  of  Peebles,  where  he  went  to  reside  in 
the  month  of  October,  occupying  a  house  at  the  head 
of  the  Brygate,  while  his  surgery  was  a  small  pro- 
jecting building — since  demolished — east  from  the  first 
Chambers'  Institute.  In  a  lane  behind  was  his  humble 
laboratory. 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME. 


181 


Park  threw  himself  into  his  work  with  characteristic 
energy  and  thoroughness,  and  speedily  won  for  himself 
a  fair  share  of  the  practice  of  the  town  and  country. 
The  profits,  however,  were  of  the  poorest,  and  the  work 
of  the  hardest — so  much  so,  indeed,  that  he  once  said  to 
Scott  he  "  would  rather  brave  Africa  and  all  its  horrors 
than  wear  out  his  life  in  long  and  toilsome  rides  over 
cold  and  lonely  heaths  and  gloomy  hills,  assailed  by  the 
wintry  tempest,  for  which  the  remuneration  was  hardly 
enough  to  keep  soul  and  body  together." 

On  the  strength  of  this  reported  offhand  remark, 
Kuskin,  without  troubling  to  inquire  further  into  the 
history  of  the  man,  has  formulated  the  following  indict- 
ment. This  "  terrific  "  sentence,  he  says,  "  signifies,  if 
you  look  into  it,  almost  total  absence  of  the  instinct  of 
personal  duty — total  absence  of  belief  in  the  God  who 
chose  for  him  his  cottage  birthplace  and  set  him  his 
life  task  beside  it ;  absolute  want  of  interest  in  his  pro- 
fession, of  sense  for  natural  beauty,  and  of  compassion 
for  the  noblest  poor  of  his  native  land.  And  with  these 
absences  there  is  the  clearest  evidence  of  the  fatalist  of 
the  vices,  Avarice — in  the  exact  form  in  which  it  was 
the  ruin  of  Scott  himself — the  love  of  money  for  the 
sake  of  worldly  position." 

Never  was  more  sweeping  accusation  founded  on 
more  slender  data.  Practically,  Park  is  charged  with 
absence  of  a  belief  in  God,  and  of  a  sense  of  duty  to 
his  fellows,  because  he  finds  his  profession  toilsome  and 
uncongenial. 

The  argument  seems  to  be  that  the  man  is  an  atheist 
and  a  sinner  against  society  who  is  ♦  not  content  to 
remain  in  the  sphere  in  which  he  was  born,  and  in 
which  accordingly  his  life  task  is  divinely  set. 


182 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Were  such  a  position  tenable,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how 
any  progress,  either  personal  or  social,  would  be  pos- 
sible. From  it,  in  the  present  instance,  would  naturally 
follow  that  Park  was  as  little  to  be  justified  in  choosing 
to  be  a  doctor  rather  than  a  peasant  farmer,  as  in  pre- 
ferring to  be  an  explorer  rather  than  either. 

What  Ruskin  takes  exception  to,  however,  is  not 
Park's  choosing  a  profession,  but  that  the  choice  once 
made,  he  should  seek  to  abandon  it.  But  if  it  were 
permissible  to  him  as  a  youth,  ignorant  alike  of  him- 
self, the  world,  and  the  profession  he  was  about  to  enter, 
to  choose,  surely  it  was  equally  permissible  that  as  a 
man,  with  some  knowledge  of  all  three,  he  should  with- 
draw in  favour  of  the  work  to  which  he  knew  himself 
adapted.  The  instinct  and  capacities  which  fitted  him 
for  an  explorer  were  as  divinely  implanted  as  his  birth- 
place had  been  divinely  appointed.  Moreover,  those 
"noblest  poor  of  his  native  land,"  to  whom  Puskin  so 
pathetically  refers,  were  not  alone  dependent  on  Park 
for  medical  aid — a  circumstance  which  would  have  lent 
another  colour  to  his  final  resolve  to  forsake  them. 
Doctors  there  were  in  plenty,  alike  able  and  willing  to 
serve  them ;  but  there  was  but  one  Mungo  Park — but 
one  man,  as  far  as  was  known,  who  by  his  special  gifts 
and  wide  experience  was  suited  for  the  peculiar  and 
arduous  work  of  African  exploration.  Upon  him  then 
it  devolved,  with  all  the  sacrednesss  of  a  divinely  ap- 
pointed mission,  as  indeed  he  deemed  it,  and  accepted  it 
accordingly,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  narrower  obligations. 

There  still  remains  the  charge  of  Avarice,  based  on 
Park's  simple  statement  that  his  "  unceasing  toil  was 
hardly  sufiicient  to  keep  soul  and  body  together."  Is 
then  the  physician  less  entitled  than  say  the  author 


MUNGO  PAJIK  AT  HOME. 


183 


to  a  just  remuneration  for  his  services,  or  does  Ruskin 
share  the  not  uncommon  popular  delusion  that  though 
butchers'  and  bakers'  bills  demand  immediate  atten- 
tion, the  payment  of  the  doctor's  is  to  be  regarded  as 
optional,  or  subject  to  the  convenience  of  the  patient. 
Neither  supposition  is  to  be  entertained  for  a  moment. 
Indeed  the  charge  rests  upon  too  flimsy  a  foundation 
ever  to  be  taken  seriously  by  any  unprejudiced  mind, 
and  we  can  only  regretfully  wonder  what  could  have 
induced  Mr.  Ruskin  so  far  to  forget  the  Justice  and 
Charity  he  is  so  fond  of  preaching  as  to  bring  it  forward. 

Beyond  the  record  of  "unceasing  toil  "  little  is  known 
of  how  Park  spent  the  time  he  was  resident  in  Peebles. 
The  town  itself  is  described  as  being  in  those  days 
quiet  as  the  grave" — a  reputation  it  still  maintains, 
judging  from  the  innuendo  in  the  ironical  phrase, 
"  Peebles  for  pleasure  !  " 

To  Park,  however,  the  absence  of  the  brighter  aspect 
of  life  was  a  small  matter.  Society  had  but  little  at- 
traction for  him,  and  his  was  the  severe  Scottish  nature 
which  avoided  as  almost  sinful  anything  bordering  upon 
frivolous  pleasure.  From  all  lionising  and  the  silly 
questioning  of  the  ignorant  and  the  impertinently 
curious  he  had  a  natural  shrinking,  though  at  any  time 
dehghted  to  talk  of  his  travels  and  of  matters  African 
with  the  intelligent  and  the  well-informed.  Quiet  and 
seclusion  were,  however,  more  to  his  mind,  and  were 
to  be  enjoyed  to  the  full  in  the  peaceful  little  town. 
Such  society  as  he  wanted  he  had  in  his  own  domestic 
circle,  beyond  which  he  was  happy  in  the  intimacy 
which  sprang  up  between  him  and  two  distinguished 
residents — Colonel  John  Murray  of  Kringaltie  and  Dr. 
Adam  Ferguson,  formerly  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy 

N 


184  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


in  Edinburgh,  and  author  of  several  well-known  works. 
Toilsome  and  monotonous  as  was  his  professional  life, 
it  was  not  without  its  brighter  and  more  humorous  side, 
as  witness  the  following  story  told  by  Dr.  Anderson, 
the  nephew  of  Park's  wife : — 

"One  wild  night  in  winter  Park  lost  his  way,  till 
discovering  a  light,  he  directed  his  horse  towards  it,  and 
found  himself  before  a  shepherd's  cottage.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  the  Doctor  arrived  there  in  the  nick  of  time, 
for  the  shepherd's  wife  was  on  the  point  of  confinement. 
He  waited  till  all  was  safely  over,  and  next  morning 
the  shepherd  escorted  him  to  where  he  could  see  the 
distant  road.  Park,  noticing  his  conductor  lag  behind, 
asked  him  the  reason,  on  which  the  simple  or  humorous 
man  replied,  '  'Deed,  sir,  my  wife  said  she  was  sure  you 
must  be  an  angel,  and  I  think  sae  tae ;  so  I  am  just 
keepin'  ahint  to  be  sure  I'll  see  you  flee  up.' " 

As  time  went  on,  Park's  longing  to  return  to  Africa 
grew  ever  more  intense,  nourished  as  it  was  by  hopes 
from  time  to  time  held  out  to  him.  Barely,  for  in- 
stance, had  he  settled  down  to  life  in  Peebles,  when  he 
received  a  letter  from  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  acquainting 
him  that  in  consequence  of  the  Peace  (then  recently 
signed  with  France),  the  Association  intended  to  re- 
vive their  project  of  sending  a  mission  to  Africa  in 
order  to  penetrate  to  and  navigate  the  Niger.  If 
Government  took  up  the  matter.  Park  would  certainly 
be  recommended  as  the  person  proper  to  be  employed 
for  carrying  it  into  execution.  As  with  previous  pro- 
jects, however,  nothing  came  of  it  for  the  time  being, 
though  it  continued  to  be  talked  about  more  or  less 
during  the  next  two  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1803  he  was  desired  by  the  Colonial 


MUNGO  PARK  AT  HOME. 


185 


Office  to  repair  without  delay  to  London.  This  summons 
he  promptly  obeyed.  On  his  arrival  he  had  an  inter- 
view with  the  Earl  of  Buckingham,  the  Secretary  for 
the  Colonies,  who  informed  him  that  the  Government 
had  resolved  on  fitting  out  an  expedition  to  Africa,  of 
which  he  was  to  have  the  command,  if  he  was  willing  to 
take  it.    It  was  exactly  what  he  wanted — exactly  what 


S' 

'jT'irrrUn^cXbt, 

r 

J- 

j  ■ 

 fi^Y^ 

REDUCED  FAC-SIMILE  OF  MUNGO  PARK  S  AUTOGRAPH  MAP. 

he  had  been  impatiently  awaiting  for  three  years ;  but 
nevertheless  he  asked  for  a  short  time  to  think  the 
matter  over  and  consult  his  friends.  The  favour  was 
granted,  and  he  returned  to  Scotland.  The  consulta- 
tions referred  to  being  for  the  most  part  a  mere  for- 
mality, in  a  few  days  his  acceptance  was  forwarded  to 
London,  whither  he  followed  immediately  after  arranging 
his  affairs  and  taking  leave  of  his  family- 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


.PREPARING  FOR  A  NEW  EXPEDITION. 

In  this  as  in  his  earlier  expedition,  Park  was  dogged  by 
his  usual  ill-luck. 

Disappointment  met  him  at  the  very  outset. 

He  had  left  Scotland  in  the  belief  that  almost  every 
arrangement  had  been  made,  and  that  a  very  short  time 
would  suffice  to  complete  the  necessary  preparations. 

He  arrived  in  London  only  to  hear  that  the  depar- 
ture of  the  expedition  had  been  postponed  till  the  end 
of  February  1804.  With  what  patience  he  possessed 
he  waited.  The  allotted  time  went  by.  Once  more 
everything  was  ready.  Part  of  the  troops  destined  for 
the  service  were  actually  on  board  ship,  when  orders 
came  countermanding  the  expedition,  pending-  the  deci- 
sion of  Lord  Camden,  the  new  Colonial  Secretary,  as  to 
whether  it  should  go  at  all  or  not. 

Park  was  naturally  bitterly  disappointed  at  thus  being 
thrown  again  on  the  seas  of  uncertainty.  The  expedition 
might  now  never  set  out,  and  the  task  of  solving  the 
great  African  problem  would  be  reserved  for  another. 

Meanwhile  the  date  of  departure  was  provisionally 
put  off  till  September,  and  till  then  he  was  recom- 
mended to  return  to  Scotland  and  occupy  the  interval 
in  perfecting  himself  in  taking  astronomical  observa- 
tions and  in   learning  Arabic  —  acquirements  which 

186 


PREPARING  FOR  A  NEW  EXPEDITION.  187 


would  be  of  the  utmost  importance  to  him  after- 
wards. 

A  suitable  teacher  of  Arabic  was  found  in  one  Sidi 
Ambak  Bubi,  a  native  of  Mogador,  and  then  residing  in 
London.  Accompanied  by  the  Moor,  Park  returned  to 
Peebles  in  March.  Here  he  remained  till  May,  when  he 
finally  quitted  that  town  and  took  up  his  residence  at 
Foulshiels  while  awaiting  the  decision  of  the  Colonial 
Office. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  great  traveller  came  in 
contact  with  his  still  greater  countryman  and  neighbour, 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  then  living  at  Ashesteil,  and  sepa- 
rated from  Foulshiels  only  by  the  sharp  ridge  of  hills 
which  divides  the  Yarrow  from  the  Tweed. 

Between  two  such  men — the  one  absorbed  in  a  career 
of  prospective  action  in  a  new  continent,  the  other  revel- 
ling in  a  romantic  world  of  retrospective  thought — it 
might  be  supposed  there  was  little  in  common. 

In  reality  there  was  much.  Scott,  though  he  delighted 
to  sing  of  the  past  and  conjure  up  its  knightly  deeds, 
had  a  soul  capable  of  appreciating  all  forms  of  glorious 
and  adventurous  enterprise,  whether  seen  in  the  prosaic 
lights  of  the  passing  moment,  or  invested  with  the 
romantic  vagueness  and  fascinating  glamour  which  the 
shades  of  time  gather  around  bygone  days.  To  such  an 
one  Park  was  a  man  after  his  own  heart.  Had  but  his 
deeds  been  surrounded  with  the  pomp  and  circumstance 
which  glorified  those  of  the  knights  of  old,  Scott  might 
have  sung  them  in  a  similar  heroic  strain.  Mayhap 
the  day  will  come  when  another  Scott  will  arise  to 
do  for  Park  and  his  successors  what  Sir  Walter  and 
others  have  done  for  the  heroic  figures  of  our  nation's 
history. 


188 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


On  the  other  hand,  Park,  imbued  as  he  likewise  was 
with  the  romantic  instinct,  could  not  fail  to  be  attracted 
by  Scott's  peculiar  genius.  Moreover,  both  were  Scotch- 
men, both  Borderers,  and  both  alike  were  passionate 
lovers  of  the  minstrelsy,  tales,  traditions,  and  ballads  of 
their  native  country.  The  ballads  especially  were  dear 
to  Park,  and  he  tells  how,  in  his  last  expedition,  one  of 
his  followers  used  to  beguile  the  watches  of  the  night 
with  the  songs  of  our  dear  native  land." 

But  whatever  were  the  links  which  drew  these  two 
famous  men  together,  they  were  suificient  speedily  to 
develop  a  very  warm  and  cordial  friendship,  and  visits 
were  frequently  interchanged  across  the  heathery  hills 
which  separated  them.  On  one  of  these  occasions  Scott 
discovered  Park  sitting  alone  beside  the  noisy  Yarrow, 
employed  in  the  apparently  idle  and  boyish  amusement 
of  throwing  stones  into  the  river  and  anxiously  watching 
the  bubbles  as  they  rose  to  the  surface.  On  being  asked 
what  interest  he  found  in  such  a  pastime.  Park  replied 
that  he  was  thus  in  the  habit  of  ascertaining  the  depth 
of  rivers  in  Africa  before  venturing  to  cross  them — the 
time  taken  by  the  bubbles  to  rise  being  an  indication  of 
the  depth. 

Early  in  September  came  the  long  expected  summons 
to  repair  to  London,  and  Park  lost  no  time  in  settling 
his  affairs  preparatory  to  leaving  home.  Among  others, 
he  paid  a  farewell  visit  to  Sir  Walter  Scott  at  Ashesteil, 
where  he  spent  the  night.  Next  morning  his  host 
accompanied  him  on  his  way  to  Foulshiels.  The  path 
lay  up  the  Glenkinnen  to  Williamhope,  whence  it  con- 
tinued over  the  ridge  and  passed  between  the  Brown 
Knowe  and  the  humpy  elevation  of  the  Broomy  Law. 
As  they  passed  from  the  birchen  slopes  of  Glenkinnen 


PREPAKING  FOR  A  NEW  EXPEDITION. 


189 


into  the  heather  and  grass-clad  zones  above,  Park  talked 
much  of  his  plans  of  exploration,  and  the  results  that 
would  accrue  to  science  and  commerce  should  he  prove 
successful. 

Under  other  conditions  the  panorama  which  slowly 
unfolds  itself  with  the  ascent  of  the  hill  would  have  been 
sufficient  to  draw  even  Park's  thoughts  from  Africa  and 
the  Niger.  The  various  glens  and  valleys  of  the  Tweed, 
the  Gala,  the  Yarrow,  and  the  Ettrick  divide  the  land 
into  a  picturesque  succession  of  winding  ridges,  isolated 
hills,  and  rounded  mountain  tops,  where  wood,  heather, 
and  grass  give  variety  of  colour  to  the  higher  levels, 
while  below  waving  crops  and  busy  harvest-fields,  ruined 
castle  and  noble  mansion,  humble  cottage  and  straggling 
village,  with  glancing  bits  of  stream  and  river,  flocks  of 
sheep  and  scattered  herds  of  cattle,  combine  to  produce 
the  softer  effects  of  "cultivated  nature." 

But  on  this  day  of  leave-taking  a  leaden-coloured  mist 
hung  over  hill  and  valley,  hiding  their  every  feature. 
Only  now  and  again  did  the  breeze  lift  a  corner  of  the 
enshrouding  veil  and  give  a  momentary  glimpse,  vague 
and  fleeting,  of  glen  and  hill-top.  As  they  talked  of 
the  coming  journey  Scott  seemed  to  see  in  the  vaguely 
defined  landscape  an  emblem  of  his  friend's  prospects, 
where  all  was  problematic,  uncertain — the  path  beset 
with  unknown  dangers  and  pitfalls,  nothing  sure  save 
the  presence  of  surrounding  perils  which  might  neither 
be  foreseen  nor  prepared  for.  In  this  ignorance  as  re- 
gards the  exact  nature  of  the  dangers  to  be  faced  lies 
one  of  the  chief  difficulties  and  terrors  of  travel  in  un- 
explored savage  lands.  All  the  traveller  does  know  is 
that  dangers  in  various  forms  will  most  assuredly  con- 
front him,  and  he  must  depend  upon  his  presence  of 


190 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


mind  and  readiness  of  resource  at  the  moment  to  avoid 
or  repel  them. 

But  Park  was  not  to  be  debarred  from  his  enterprise 
by  any  thought  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way.  To  all 
that  Scott  could  urge  he  had  his  answer.  The  idea  of 
solving  the  question  of  the  Niger's  termination  was  one 
which  possessed  him  to  the  exclusion  of  all  thoughts  of 
self.  As  well  have  asked  him  to  renounce  his  belief  in 
the  existence  of  God  as  expect  him  to  give  up  his 
cherished  scheme. 

At  last  the  glen  of  the  Yarrow  lay  before  them.  At 
the  bottom  could  be  hazily  defined  the  "  birchen  bower," 
from  which  the  stately  tower  of  Newark  and  the  humble 
cottage  of  Foulshiels  ahke  looked  forth  on  the  beautiful 
murmurous  stream. 

Here  they  must  say  good-bye.  A  ditch  divided  the 
road  from  the  moor,  and  in  crossing  it  Park's  horse 
stumbled  and  nearly  fell.  "  I  am  afraid,  Mungo,"  said 
Scott,  "that  is  a  bad  omen."  "  Freits "  omens) 
*'  follow  those  who  look  to  them,"  was  the  prompt  reply ; 
and  without  another  word  Park  rode  away  and  dis- 
appeared in  the  mist. 

It  now  only  remained  to  Park  to  take  farewell  of  his 
wife.  Brave  as  he  was,  the  ordeal  was  more  than  he 
dared  face.  Not  that  she  had  raised  any  objections  to 
his  going,  or  put  any  barriers  in  the  way.  Seeing  how 
much  her  husband's  heart  was  in  it,  and  not  perhaps 
without  some  natural  womanly  pride  in  being  the  wife 
of  a  hero  rather  than  of  a  nobody,  she  seems  to  have 
accepted  as  a  matter  of  course  his  determination  to 
avail  himself  of  the  chance  of  further  distinction  pre- 
sented by  the  proposed  expedition.  Still,  the  moment 
of  actual  parting,  with  the  prospect  of  at  best  a  long 


PKEPARING  FOR  A  NEW  EXPEDITION.  191 


period  of  separation,  would  be  agony.  Even  better  than 
his  wife  Park  knew  how  many  chances  there  were  that 
the  separation  might  be  final — that  wife  and  children, 
of  whom  there  were  now  three,  might  never  see  him 
again.  Sanguine  as  he  was  of  success,  there  were 
moments  when  he  could  not  but  admit  that  the  coming 
enterprise  looked  very  like  a  forlorn  hope — moments, 
too,  when  it  became  difficult  for  him  to  discern  whether 
his  duty  to  humanity  or  to  his  family  had  the  stronger 
claim  upon  him. 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  some  such  feeling  of 
despondency  that  he  finally  resolved  to  spare  both 
himself  and  his  wife  the  anguish  of  a  parting  scene, 
and  betaking  himself  to  Edinburgh  on  the  plea  of 
business,  thence  wrote  to  her  his  last  farewell. 

On  his  arrival  in  London  in  September  1804,  Park 
presented  a  written  statement  to  the  Colonial  Office 
embodying  his  views  as  to  the  commercial  and  geo- 
graphical results  likely  to  accrue  from  the  intended 
expedition,  at  the  same  time  pointing  out  the  best 
means  to  accomplish  the  work  as  regards  men  and  goods. 
In  this  memorandum  he  pointed  out  the  course  he 
proposed  to  pursue.  Passing  through  Bondu,  Kajaaga, 
Euladu,  and  Bambarra  to  Sego,  he  would  construct  a 
boat  and  proceed  by  way  of  Jenne  and  Kabara  (the  port 
of  Timbuktu)  through  the  kingdoms  of  Haussa,  Nyffe 
(now  called  Nupe),  and  Kashna,  &c.,  to  the  kingdom  of 
Wangara.  If  the  river  ended  here,  he  pointed  out, 
his  chief  difficulty  would  begin.  To  return  by  the 
Niger,  to  cross  the  desert  to  Tripoli  or  Egypt,  or  to 
pass  eastward  to  the  Nile  and  Abyssinia,  he  considered 
equally  difficult.  Tlie  most  feasible  course  seemed  that 
towards  the  Bight  of  Benin.    If,  however,  the  Niger 


192 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


was,  as  he  confidently  believed,  in  reality  the  Congo, 
he  would  follow  it  to  its  termination.  After  pointing 
out  the  grounds  for  his  belief,  Park  concluded  with  the 
opinion  that  when  "your  Lordship  shall  have  duly 
weighed  the  above  reasons,  you  will  be  induced  to  con- 
clude that  my  hopes  of  returning  by  the  Congo  are  not 
altogether  fanciful,  and  that  the  expedition,  though 
attended  with  extreme  danger,  promises  to  be  pro- 
ductive of  the  utmost  advantage  to  Great  Britain. 
Considered  in  a  commercial  point  of  view,  it  is  second 
only  to  the  discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and 
in  a  geographical  point  of  view  is  certainly  the  greatest 
discovery  that  remains  to  be  made  in  the  world" — a 
very  strong  statement  of  the  case,  it  must  be  admitted, 
though  undoubtedly  if  the  Niger  and  the  Congo  had 
proved  to  be  one,  it  could  scarcely  have  been  said  to 
be  too  strong. 

Park  had  been  converted  to  this  view  of  the  identity 
of  the  two  great  rivers  by  one  George  Maxwell,  a  West 
African  trader,  who  had  seen  much  of  the  Congo  near 
its  mouth,  and  had  published  a  chart  embodying  the 
results  of  his  observations.  When  closely  examined,  the 
arguments  in  its  favour  were  of  small  value,  and  practi- 
cally arose  out  of  the  fact  that  there  was  a  large  river 
with  a  southerly  trend  whose  termination  was  unknown, 
while  further  south  there  was  a  second,  the  Congo, 
whose  origin  was  equally  a  mystery.  Prolong  these  in 
the  necessary  direction  and  the  result  is  identity,  and 
the  mystery  of  both  is  settled. 

Meanwhile  Major  Rennell  stuck  to  his  view  with  all 
the  pertinacity  of  the  arm-chair  geographer,  and  the 
man  of  one  idea.  For  him  the  Niger  ended  in  the 
desert  wastes  of  Wangara  and  Ghana.  Unfortunately 


PKEPARING  FOR  A  NEW  EXPEDITION.  193 


for  his  theory  the  Major  was  unconsciously  confound- 
ing two  Wangaras  separated  from  each  other  by  fifteen 
hundred  miles  and  more,  and  likewise  the  old  Empire  of 
Ghana  on  the  middle  course  of  the  Niger  with  Kano  at 
the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Haussa  States.  A  similar 
confusion  also  appears  in  Park's  memorandum,  where 
he  speaks  of  the  continuation  of  the  river  after  Nupe  to 
Kashna  (Katsina)  and  the  kingdom  of  Wangara. 

Strange  indeed  it  seems  to  us  now^  that  no  geographer 
even  at  this  time  ever  suggested  that  the  outlet  of 
the  ]^I^iger  might  be  in  the  Bight  of  Benin,  among  the 
numerous  creeks  that  penetrate  the  low  swampy  man- 
grove ground  which  here  subtends  the  Bight.  Looking 
at  the  map,  the  suggestion  seems  to  us  to  come  naturally, 
yet  Park  had  to  carry  the  course  of  the  river  away 
south  to  the  Congo ;  Rennell  turned  it  west,  and  ended 
it  where  our  maps  are  now  occupied  by  Lake  Chad, 
while  there  were  not  wanting  others,  like  Jackson,  who 
persisted  in  joining  it  to  the  Nile,  "  en  abusant,  pour 
ainsi  dire,  du  vaste  carriere  que  I'int^rieur  de  I'Afrique 
y  laissait  prendre,"  as  D'Anville  had  said  of  earlier 
geographers. 

Whatever  we  may  now  think  of  Park's  theories  as  to 
the  termination  of  the  Niger,  they  did  not  appear  in 
any  way  absurd  in  his  own  time.  The  wildest  con- 
jecture was  permissible  as  regards  a  vast  river  flowing 
by  an  uncertain  course  through  a  continent  still  blank 
on  our  maps.  Accordingly  his  memorandum  w^as  re- 
ceived favourably  by  Lord  Camden,  and  the  despatch 
of  the  expedition  to  carry  out  the  traveller's  ideas  was 
determined  on. 

A  liberal  compensation  w^as  to  be  given  to  Park  on 
his  return,  and  it  was  also  stipulated  that  in  the  event 


194 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


of  his  death,  or  of  his  not  being  heard  of  within  a  given 
period,  a  certain  sum  should  be  paid  by  Government  as 
a  provision  for  his  wife  and  family. 

Meanwhile  Rennell,  in  the  most  friendly  fashion,  not 
only  argued  against  Park's  views  as  to  the  Niger  termi- 
nation, but  earnestly  advised  him  to  relinquish  his  dan- 
gerous project.  With  as  little  effect  in  the  one  case  as 
in  the  other,  however.  The  explorer's  determination, 
like  his  opinions,  was  not  to  be  shaken.  Sir  Joseph 
Banks  took  up  a  more  philosophic  position.  He  ad- 
mitted the  hazardous  nature  of  the  enterprise;  but 
since  the  work  was  not  to  be  accomplished  without 
risk  of  life,  he  could  not  attempt  to  dissuade  Park  from 
it,  he  being  the  man  most  likely  to  carry  it  through 
with  least  danger  of  a  fatal  issue. 

Gradually  the  affairs  of  the  expedition  began  to  take 
shape.  Dr.  Alexander  Anderson,  Park's  yoimg  brother- 
in-law,  was  selected  as  his  second  in  command,  and  Mr. 
George  Scott,  a  fellow-dalesman,  was  added  to  the  party 
as  draughtsman.  A  few  boat-builders  and  artificers  were 
also  to  accompany  the  party  from  England,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  constructing  the  boat  intended  for  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Niger  when  it  was  reached.  Soldiers  to 
assist  and  protect  the  expedition  were  to  be  selected 
at  Goree,  where  a  garrison  of  the  African  corps  was 
stationed. 

It  was  now  a  matter  of  paramount  importance  that 
the  expedition  should  leave  England  at  once  if  it  was 
to  take  advantage  of  the  dry  season.  But  official 
red-tape  was  as  difficult  to  galvanise  into  activity  and 
life  as  African  apathy,  and  in  spite  of  his  utmost 
endeavours  to  push  matters  on,  delay  succeeded  upon 
delay,  and  Park  saw  the  good  season  gradually  dwindling 


PREPARING  FOR  A  NEW  EXPEDITION. 


195 


away,  leaving  him  to  the  maddening  contemplation  of 
all  the  additional  difficulties  and  dangers  engendered  by 
the  rains.  Two  whole  months  were  thus  lost ;  and  when 
he  at  last  received  his  official  instructions,  he  knew  that 
the  Government,  by  its  continued  procrastination,  had 
done  much  if  not  everything  to  ensure  a  disastrous 
termination  to  the  expedition. 

In  the  instructions  supplied  to  him  Park's  mission 
was  defined  as  being  to  discover  whether  and  to  what 
extent  commercial  intercourse  could  be  established  in 
the  interior  of  Africa  for  the  mutual  benefit  of  the 
natives  and  of  His  Majesty's  subjects.  He  was  directed 
to  proceed  up  the  Gambia,  and  thence  to  the  banks  of 
the  Niger  by  way  of  the  Senegal.  The  special  object  of 
his  journey  was  to  determine  the  course  of  the  Niger, 
and  to  establish  communication  with  all  the  different 
nations  on  its  banks.  He  was  at  liberty  to  pursue 
any  return  route  which  he  might  find  most  suitable, 
either  by  turning  west  to  the  Atlantic,  or  by  marching 
upon  Cairo. 

To  carry  out  this  great  mission  eff'ectively,  a  captain's 
commission  was  bestowed  on  him,  and  that  of  a  lieu- 
tenant on  Anderson.  European  soldiers  to  the  number 
of  forty-five,  and  as  many  natives  as  he  might  deem 
necessary,  were  to  be  selected  at  Goree,  and  a  sufficient 
number  of  donkeys  at  St.  Jago.  He  was  further 
empowered  to  draw  for  any  sum  he  might  want  not 
exceeding  ^5000. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


PARK'S  SECOND  RETURN  TO  THE  GAMBIA. 

On  the  31st  January  1805,  Park,  with  his  companions 
and  four  or  five  artificers,  sailed  from  Portsmouth  in  the 
Crescent  transport  for  St.  Jago,  CajDe  Verde  Islands. 

In  crossing  the  Bay  of  Biscay  they  were  considerably 
detained  by  storms  and  contrary  winds,  so  that  it  took 
five  weeks  to  reach  their  primary  destination.  From 
St.  Jago,  where  forty-four  donkeys  were  purchased,  they 
proceeded  to  Goree,  arriving  at  that  station  on  the  21st 
of  March.  Here  the  idea  of  an  expedition  to  the  Niger 
was  received  mth  such  enthusiasm  by  ofiicers  and  men 
alike  that  the  entire  garrison  was  ready  to  join — the 
officers  for  the  adventure  and  honour  of  the  thing,  the 
men  for  the  increased  pay  and  promised  discharge  on 
their  return. 

One  officer,  Lieutenant  Martyn,  was  selected,  and 
with  him  thirty-five  privates  and  two  seamen. 

Park's  idea  of  taking  with  him  a  considerable  number 

of  European  artisans  and  soldiers  must  be  considered 

one  of  the  greatest  blunders  he  ever  made.    A  moment's 

thought  should  surely  have  told  him  that  he  ran  a 

terrible  risk  of  speedily  losing  the  greater  number  by 

death,  and  that  through  sickness  the  majority  of  those 

who  kept  alive  would  be  more  a  hindrance  than  a  help 

to  him.    He  should  have  known  that  these  ignorant 

196 


PAEK'S  SECOND  RETURN  TO  THE  GAMBIA.  197 


men  were  not  as  he  himself  seemed  to  be — rendered  dis- 
ease and  privation  proof  by  the  determination  to  achieve 
a  certain  great  object.  Against  all  forms  of  death,  save 
death  by  violence,  his  ivill  was  to  him  a  magic  mail. 
With  his  men  it  was  different.  Ignorant  of  what  was 
before  them — incapable  of  comprehending  it  even  had 
it  been  told — they  only  saw  in  the  enterprise  a  certain 
freedom  from  irksome  garrison  restrictions  and  military 
discipline,  increased  pay,  and  the  prospect  of  early  dis- 
charge.   To  all  else  they  were  blind. 

Brought  face  to  face  with  hourly  dangers,  privations, 
and  incessant  toil,  they  quickly  realised  their  mistake. 
Everything  was  forgotten  save  the  present  physical 
suffering.  Sick  and  dispirited,  what  was  the  question 
of  the  Niger's  course  to  them  ?  A  mere  name,  without 
power  to  fire  their  imagination  or  inspire  their  enthu- 
siasm. How  insignificant,  too,  appeared  the  material 
recompense.  Thus  with  nothing  to  buoy  them  up, 
nothing  to  lure  them  on  and  keep  them  from  mag- 
nifying and  dwelling  on  their  troubles,  there  could  be 
nothing  but  apathy — with  apathy,  despondency,  and 
finally  death.  This  has  been  the  history,  more  or  less, 
of  nearly  all  African  expeditions  in  which  ignorant 
European  men  have  been  employed,  tempted  to  join 
merely  for  pay  or  other  considerations  of  a  personal 
character.  In  proportion  as  the  members  of  an  expe- 
dition have  been  inspired  by  its  ultimate  objects,  they 
have  lived  to  see  it  through,  because  in  that  proportion 
they  have  given  less  attention  to  their  hardships  and 
sicknesses.  The  less  they  have  thought  of  themselves, 
and  the  more  their  minds  have  been  centred  on  their 
work,  the  better  have  been  their  chances  of  pulling 
through. 


198 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


But  though  all  the  whites  of  the  Goree  garrison  were 
willing  to  accompany  Park,  not  one  of  the  negroes  of 
the  place  could  be  induced  to  join,  and  he  therefore  had 
to  depend  on  getting  such  natives  as  he  wanted  on  the 
Gambia.  He  left  Goree  on  the  6th  of  April,  and  reached 
Kayi,  on  the  Gambia,  a  few  days  later. 

Tlie  prospect  now  before  him  was  anything  but  plea- 
sant. The  rainy  season,  which  he  had  such  good  grounds 
to  fear,  was  rapidly  approaching.  There  were  but  two 
alternatives — either  to  wait  till  the  next  dry  season 
before  starting,  or  go  on  and  face  the  worst — the  fevers, 
the  rains,  the  marshes,  the  flooded  rivers,  and  all  the 
other  accompaniments  of  the  wet  season.  These  must 
undoubtedly  produce  much  sickness,  probably  many 
deaths,  innumerable  exasperating  delays,  and  other 
troubles — must  increase,  in  fact,  by  a  hundredfold  the 
perils  and  trials  of  the  expedition.  On  the  other  hand, 
to  wait  would  mean  a  delay  of  seven  months — seven 
months  of  inaction,  of  intolerable  fretting  at  the  very 
threshold  of  the  enterprise.  The  idea  was  out  of  the 
question.  Besides,  men,  animals,  and  goods  were  ready 
for  the  road,  and  the  Government  expected  them  to 
proceed  forthwith.  A  delay  of  the  kind  had  not  been 
foreseen,  and  had  not  been  provided  for  in  Park's  in- 
structions. Of  the  two  evils,  therefore,  he  chose  the  one 
which  was  most  in  harmony  with  his  own  eager  spirit, 
determining  to  risk  all  and  start  forthwith.  Having 
once  made  up  his  mind,  he  put  aside  all  fears  and  appre- 
hensions, and  would  allow  nothing  to  damp  his  sanguine 
hopes.  In  this  spirit  he  wrote  to  Dickson  : — "  Every- 
thing at  present  looks  as  favourable  as  I  could  wish, 
and  if  all  things  go  well  this  day  six  weeks  I  expect  to 
drink  all  your  healths  in  the  water  of  the  Niger.  The 


PAKE'S  SECOND  RETURN  TO  THE  GAMBIA.  199 


soldiers  are  in  good  health  and  spirits.  They  are  the 
most  dashing  men  I  ever  saw,  and  if  they  preserve  their 
health  we  may  keep  ourselves  perfectly  secm^e  from  any 
hostile  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  natives.  I  have  little 
doubt  but  that  I  shall  be  able,  with  presents  and  fair 
words,  to  pass  through  the  country  to  the  Niger,  and  if 
once  we  are  afloat  the  day  is  won." 

We  can  easily  believe  that  Park  in  this  letter  does 
not  give  a  faithful  indication  of  his  real  position  at  the 
moment  of  writing.  He  may  have  expressed  his  hopes 
truly  enough,  but  he  carefully  avoids  showing  the  fears 
which  went  side  by  side  with  them.  What  exact  signi- 
ficance the  term  dashing,"  as  applied  to  his  soldiers, 
bears  in  relation  to  their  qualities  as  members  of  an 
African  expedition,  might  be  a  matter  of  discussion  ; 
but  while  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  they  were 
the  best  the  garrison  could  supply,  it  must  also  be 
remembered  that  the  African  corps  was  the  residuum 
of  the  British  army  at  a  time  when  it  was  the  chief 
resort  of  the  rascaldom  of  the  country.  A  residence, 
however  short,  in  a  West  African  garrison,  could  have 
improved  neither  their  physique,  their  morals,  nor  their 
discipline,  and  certainly  was  not  calculated  to  fit  them 
for  one  of  the  most  dangerous  and  trying  enterprises 
any  man  could  enter  upon,  and  requiring  moral  and 
physical  qualities  which  only  the  very  few  possess. 

To  his  error  in  taking  with  him  such  a  large  party  of 
Europeans,  Park  added  an  even  worse  mistake,  and  one 
for  which  less  excuse  can  be  found.  Nowhere  in  his 
diary  do  we  find  a  single  reference  to  his  having  any 
native  followers  to  do  the  common  drudgery  of  the 
camp  and  the  road.  This  was  a  want  of  foresight 
which  appears  almost  incredible  in  one  who  knew  what 


200 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER 


was  before  him,  and  the  results  which  followed  when 
all  the  men  fell  sick  were  disastrous  beyond  description. 

Thus,  then,  to  the  extreme  perils  and  hardships 
w^hich  attend  an  African  expedition  at  all  times,  Park 
added  a  start  at  the  worst  possible  time  of  the  year, 
and  with  the  worst  possible  selection  of  men.  What 
came  of  it  the  following  pages  will  show. 

On  the  27th  of  April  1805,  all  was  ready  for  the 
march.  The  initial  point  was  Kayi,  on  the  river 
Gambia,  a  few  miles  below  Pisania,  the  place  from 
which  Park  started  on  his  first  expedition.  How 
different  w^ere  his  preparations  for  this  new  attempt. 
In  the  former  he  had  left  for  the  interior  attended  by 
a  man  and  a  boy — a  single  donkey  carrying  all  the  goods 
and  stores  he  required.  This  time  he  was  provided  with 
forty-four  Europeans,  and  a  large  quantity  of  baggage 
of  all  kinds,  transported  by  as  many  donkeys  as  there 
were  men.  As  already  said,  we  find  no  allusion  in  his 
letters  or  journals  to  his  having  any  native  attendants, 
though  possibly  there  might  have  been  one  or  two 
as  personal  servants.  Isaaco,  a  Mandingo  priest  and 
merchant,  had  been  engaged  to  act  as  guide,  and  he  it 
seems  was  accompanied  by  several  of  his  own  people. 

Under  cover  of  a  salute  from  the  Crescent  and  other 
vessels  gathered  on  the  river,  the  caravan  filed  out  of 
Kayi,  and  took  the  road  for  the  interior — each  man, 
according  to  his  temperament,  aspirations,  and  educa- 
tion, filled  with  varied  emotions  of  hope  and  fear,  at 
once  attracted  and  repelled  by  the  vague  unknown 
which  lay  before  him. 

The  troubles  and  worries  attendant  on  leading  a  large 
caravan  in  Africa  became  only  too  soon  apparent.  The 
day  was  extremely  hot.    Under  the  influence  of  the 


PARK  S  SECOND  RETURN  TO  THE  GAMBIA. 


201 


overpowering  temperature  the  overloaded  donkeys  lay 
down  and  refused  to  proceed,  while  others,  resenting 
the  imposition  of  any  burden,  did  what  they  could  to 
kick  themselves  free,  thus  giving  an  infinite  amount  of 
trouble  to  their  drivers. 

The  men  themselves,  fresh  from  the  relaxing  life  and 
coarse  debaucheries  of  a  West  African  garrison,  soon 
began  to  give  in  as  well  as  their  donkeys,  so  that  before 
long  the  caravan,  from  being  a  continuous  line,  was 
broken  into  detached  groups  and  isolated  individuals 
resting  here,  struggling  on  there.  Finally  the  party 
got  completely  divided,  some  under  Lieutenant  Martyn 
taking  one  way,  and  the  rest  with  Park  another.  To- 
wards evening  they  again  became  united,  and  reached 
a  suitable  camping  ground  thoroughly  fatigued  by  their 
first  march.  Next  day  Pisania  was  reached,  and  here 
a  halt  became  necessary  to.  make  some  final  prepara- 
tions and  purchase  eight  more  donkeys. 

On  the  4th  of  May  the  journey  was  resumed.  The 
caravan  was  divided  into  six  messes,  each  with  its  due 
proportion  of  animals  marked  for  easy  identification. 
Scott  and  one  of  Isaaco's  men  led  the  way,  Martyn  took 
charge  of  the  centre  body,  while  Anderson  and  Park 
brought  up  the  rear.  Even  with  the  additional  beasts 
of  burden  there  was  a  repetition  of  the  troubles  which 
marked  the  first  march — troubles  which  became  each 
day  more  harassing  with  the  failing  strength  of  the 
donkeys  and  the  sickness  which  after  a  time  developed 
among  their  drivers.  The  leaders  were  each  provided 
with  horses  for  riding,  but  in  a  very  short  time  they 
had  to  take  to  their  feet,  that  their  animals  might  be 
utilised  for  the  transport  of  loads  belonging  to  broken- 
down  donkeys.    A  few  days  more  and  this  likewise 


202 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


proved  insufficient,  and  both  new  donkeys  and  new 
drivers  had  to  be  hired. 

By  the  fourth  day  from  Pisania  two  soldiers  "were 
attacked  by  dysentery,  and  a  further  addition  to  the 
strength  of  the  caravan  was  found  necessary.  In  a 
week  the  expedition  reached  Medina,  the  capital  of 
Wuli,  without  special  mishap,  but  with  ever  growing 
worries  for  its  leader. 

The  keen  eye  to  business  so  characteristic  of  negro 
races  was  well  shown  by  the  women  of  Bambaku,  who, 
on  hearing  of  the  coming  of  the  white  men,  drew  all 
the  water  out  of  the  wells  in  the  hope  of  forcing  the 
strangers  to  buy  it  at  a  high  price  in  beads  and  other 
gauds  dear  to  the  negro  heart.  In  this,  however,  they 
were  outwitted  by  the  soldiers,  and  they  had  the  in- 
expressible mortification  of  seeing  twentj^-four  hours' 
labour  utterly  lost,  and  the  beads  as  unattainable  as 
ever. 

Meanwhile  the  report  of  the  passage  of  a  i-ich  cara- 
van conducted  by  many  Europeans  spread  like  wild- 
fire, gaining  in  exaggeration  with  every  mile,  and 
putting  all  the  robber  bands  and  chiefs  on  the  alert. 
Preceded  by  such  rumours  it  became  necessary  to 
travel  with  great  circumspection,  and  in  constant 
readiness  for  an  attack.  No  one  was  allowed  to  lay 
aside  his  gun.  By  way  of  invoking  the  aid  of  a 
higher  power  than  that  of  man,  Isaaco,  on  entering 
the  reputedly  dangerous  woods  of  Simbani,  laid  a  black 
ram  across  the  road,  and  after  reciting  a  long  prayer, 
cut  its  throat  as  a  sacrifice.  These  woods  were  alive 
with  hundreds  of  antelopes.  The  Gambia,  where  it 
traversed  them,  was  a  hundred  yards  wide,  and  showed 
a  perceptible  tide.    On  the  sands  were  great  numbers  of 


PAEK'S  SECOND  KETUKN  TO  THE  GAMBIA.  203 


alligators,  while  the  pools  teemed  with  hippos.  Viewed 
from  an  eminence,  the  country  towards  the  west  appeared 
.abundantly  rich  and  enchanting,  the  course  of  the 
Gambia  being  traceable  by  its  fringing  lines  of  dark 
green  trees  winding  in  serpentine  curves  seaward. 

At  a  place  called  Faraba,  while  unloading  the  animals 
preparatory  to  camping,  one  of  the  soldiers  fell  down  in 
an  epileptic  fit,  and  expired  in  an  hour.  Here  water 
was  only  to  be  got  by  digging.  During  the  night,  as 
they  were  in  the  wilderness,  and  liable  to  attack,  double 
sentries  were  posted  round  the  camp,  and  every  man 
slept  with  his  loaded  musket  beside  him. 

Next  morning  the  Neaulico  stream,  then  nearly  dry, 
was  passed,  and  on  that  and  a  succeeding  night  they 
camped  in  the  woods,  the  second  occasion  being  at  the 
river  Nerico. 

On  the  1 8th  the  caravan  entered  Jallacotta,  the  first 
town  of  Tenda. 

Two  days  later  they  met  with  an  insolent  reception 
from  the  chief  of  the  independent  village  of  Bady,  who 
refused  the  caravan-tax  sent  him,  and  threatened  war  if 
his  exorbitant  demands  were  not  satisfied.  Park  tried 
personally  to  arrange  the  dispute,  but  only  met  with 
threats.  The  soldiers  were  at  once  ordered  to  be  in 
readiness  for  whatever  might  happen,  while  the  chief 
was  told  that  nothing  more  would  be  given  him,  and 
that  if  he  would  not  allow  their  peaceable  passage  through 
his  district,  another  would  be  found.  After  many  angiy 
words  Park  prepared  to  carry  his  resolution  into  effect, 
but  before  the  necessary  preparations  were  completed, 
Isaaco's  horse  was  seized  by  the  Bady  people.  On  the 
owner  going  to  demand  its  restitution,  he  himself  was 
laid  hold  of,  deprived  of  his  gun  and  sword,  and  then 


204 


MI^NGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


tied  to  a  tree  and  flogged.  At  the  same  time  his  boy 
was  put  in  irons. 

It  was  now  dark,  but  prompt  action  was  necessary. 
Accordingly  Park,  with  a  detachment  of  soldiers,  entered 
the  village  to  seize  the  robbers  of  the  horse,  intending 
to  hold  them  as  hostages  for  the  safe  delivery  of  the 
guide.  This  attempt  naturally  led  to  much  uproar, 
ending  finally  in  blows,  and  the  driving  of  all  the  chief's 
people  out  of  the  village.  Isaaco,  however,  was  no- 
where to  be  found,  and  Park  was  somewhat  puzzled  to 
know  what  to  do.  It  would  of  course  have  been  easy 
to  burn  down  the  village,  but  this  would  have  entailed 
death  and  ruin  on  many  innocent  persons,  possibly 
without  producing  the  desired  effect.  Under  the  cir- 
cumstances it  was  deemed  advisable  to  wait  till  daylight 
before  making  an  attack.  This  course  proved  to  be 
both  wise  and  humane,  for  in  the  morning  Isaaco  was 
liberated  and  his  horse  restored,  so  that  eventually  all 
ended  amicably. 

On  the  24th  of  May  much  lightning  was  seen  to  the 
south-east  —  ominous  premonition  of  the  approaching 
rains.  Of  the  party  Park  and  Isaaco  alone  could  realise 
what  those  electric  flashes  betokened  to  the  fortunes  of 
the  expedition. 

Their  way  for  the  next  three  days  lay  through  the 
Tenda  Wilderness — with  all  the  hard  marches,  short 
rations,  and  scant  supplies  of  water  which  an  unin- 
habited district  at  the  end  of  the  dry  season  implies, 
and  which  were  hardly  to  be  compensated  by  the  ex- 
ceeding picturesqueness  of  the  scenery. 

At  the  second  camp  in  the  wilderness  an  extraordi- 
nary mishap  befell  them.  A  hive  of  bees  was  disturbed 
by  one  of  the  men,  with  the  result  that  they  swarmed 


PAEK'S  SECOND  RETURN  TO  THE  GAMBIA.  205 


out  in  angry  myriads  to  attack  the  intruders.  They  set 
upon  man  and  beast  alike,  and  in  a  twinkling  had  routed 
every  two-legged  and  four-footed  thing  in  the  camp. 
The  men  threw  down  weapons — everything — and  fled  in 
dismay,  along  with  frantic  braying  donkeys.  The  horses 
similarly  broke  loose,  and  galloped  to  the  woods  in  a 
panic.  Meanwhile  the  fires  which  had  been  kindled, 
being  thus  left  unattended,  speedily  began  to  spread 
to  the  surrounding  dry  grass  and  bamboos.  When 
Park  and  his  companions  had  time  to  look  round, 
they  discovered  to  their  dismay  that  the  whole  camp 
was  on  fire,  and  menaced  by  absolute  and  irretrievable 
ruin. 

Forgetful  of  all  else  before  such  an  appalling  danger 
to  the  expedition,  those  who  had  suffered  least  from  the 
furious  bees  rushed  back  to  save  what  they  could. 
Happily  not  too  late.  Before  the  goods  were  reached 
by  the  fire.  Park  and  some  of  the  men  were  ready  to 
receive  the  enemy,  and  eventually  succeeded  in  extin- 
guishing it. 

The  impending  conflagration  over,  the  horses  and 
donkeys  were  with  difficulty  collected  from  the  woods, 
many  of  them  terribly  stung  and  swollen  about  the  head. 
Three  animals,  besides  Isaaco's  horse,  disappeared  alto- 
gether. One  donkey  died  that  evening,  another  next 
morning,  and  a  third  had  to  be  abandoned,  so  vicious 
and  deadly  had  been  the  bees'  onslaught. 

Many  curious  superstitions  were  noticed  by  Park  en 
route  through  Wuli  and  Tenda.  At  one  place  death 
was  believed  to  be  the  portion  of  any  one  who  slept 
under  a  particular  tree;  at  another,  the  fish  in  the 
river  must  not  be  caught,  else  the  water  would  dry 
up  entirely ;  while  at  a  third,  any  traveller  who  would 


206 


MUNGO  PAKE  AND  THE  NIGER. 


assure  himself  of  a  safe  journey,  must  lift  and  turn 
round  a  particular  stone. 

At  Julifunda  the  chief  made  exorbitant  demands  on 
the  caravan,  threatening  to  attack  them  in  the  woods  if 
these  were  not  complied  with.  Park's  resolute  attitude, 
however,  combined  with  an  addition  to  his  first  present, 
brought  the  quarrel  to  an  amicable  conclusion,  and  he 
was  permitted  to  continue  his  route  unmolested. 

The  expedition  had  now  reached  the  eastern  confines 
of  the  Gambia  basin,  and  writing  home  to  his  wife,  Park 
reviewed  his  situation  as  follows  : — 

"We  are  half  through  our  journey  (i.e.  to  the  Niger) 
without  the  smallest  accident  or  unpleasant  circumstance. 
We  all  of  us  keep  our  health,  and  are  on  the  most 
friendly  terms  with  the  natives.  .  .  .  By  the  27th  of 
June  we  expect  to  have  finished  all  our  travels  by  land, 
and  when  we  have  once  got  afloat  on  the  river,  we  shall 
conclude  that  we  are  embarking  for  England.  I  have 
never  had  the  smallest  sickness,  and  Alexander  (Mrs. 
Park's  brother)  is  quite  free  from  all  his  complaints  .  .  . 
We  carry  our  own  victuals  with  us,  and  Hve  very  well — 
in  fact  we  have  only  had  a  very  pleasant  journey ;  and  yet 
this  is  what  we  thought  would  be  the  worst  part  of  it." 

In  looking  back  undoubtedly  Park  had  every  reason 
to  be  satisfied  with  his  journey  so  far.  His  men  seemed 
to  have  worked  heartily  enough — at  least  we  find  no  in- 
dications in  his  journal  of  insubordination,  grumbling, 
or  bad  conduct.  But  then  he  never  was  in  the  habit  of 
putting  the  least  stress  on  his  troubles.  It  was  of  more 
importance  to  him  to  be  able  to  say  that  he  had  advanced 
a  day's  march  nearer  the  Niger  than  that  he  had  been 
subjected  to  a  week's  maddening  worry.  All  vexations 
and  discomforts  he  treated  like  the  suppressed  adven- 


PAKK'S  SECOND  EETUKN  TO  THE  GAMBIA.  207 


tures  of  his  former  narrative,  of  which  he  said  that  as 
they  were  only  of  importance  to  himself,  he  would  not 
weary  the  reader  with  a  recital  of  them. 

It  is  only  too  probable  that  he  had  much  trouble  with 
his  men,  and  certainly  between  the  lines  we  gather  that 
he  had  an  immense  amount  of  work  to  perform — looking 
after  his  caravan  on  the  road,  buying  food,  and  holding 
innumerable  palavers,  &c.,  in  camp.  Even  the  nights 
he  could  not  call  his  own,  for  observations  for  latitude 


MUNGO  PARK'S  ENCAMPMENT. 


and  longitude  must  be  taken  at  all  hours — notes  written 
out,  and  the  observations  calculated.  He  had  to  be 
at  once  overseer,  buyer  of  food,  interpreter,  surveyor, 
doctor,  and  general  inspirer  of  the  whole  party.  But 
he  was  equal  to  everything  that  could  be  put  on  his 
shoulders.  Within  him  he  had  a  sustaining  force  such 
as  was  known  to  none  of  those  about  him,  and  which 
gave  him  a  giant's  strength  and  the  spirit  of  the  gods. 


CHAPTEE  XXI. 


STILL  STRUGGLING  TOWARDS  THE  GREAT  RIVER. 

Park  in  his  letter  home  was  careful  only  to  look 
backward  :  it  is  now  our  business  to  accompany  him 
forward,  and  see  what  happened  as  he  passed  across  the 
Senegal  basin  on  his  way  to  the  Niger. 

On  the  yth  of  June  he  crossed  the  Samaku,  which 
flows  north  to  join  the  Faleme,  and  in  fear  of  an  attack, 
travelled  rapidly  through  an  uninhabited  district  by  a 
forced  march.  Here  two  of  the  donkeys  had  to  be 
abandoned,  and  there  being  no  guiding  pathway,  as 
darkness  came  on,  muskets  were  frequently  fired  to 
prevent  the  men  losing  each  other. 

Early  next  day  the  Falemt^  was  seen  in  the  distance. 
The  carpenter,  who  had  become  very  ill,  could  not  sit 
upright  on  a  donkey,  and  time  after  time  threw  himself 
off,  declaring  that  he  would  rather  die.  Latterly  it  took 
two  men  to  hold  him  in  his  seat  by  force,  and  at  the 
Falem^,  which  was  crossed  in  the  course  of  the  day,  he 
had  to  be  left  behind  in  charge  of  a  soldier.  He  died  a 
few  hours  after. 

That  night  a  heavy  tornado  burst  upon  the  caravan. 
Five  soldiers  who  had  not  been  under  proper  shelter, 
and  got  a  wetting,  became  ill  in  consequence. 

It  could  no  longer  be  ignored  that  the  rains  were  at  last 

upon  them,  and  that  just  when  they  were  in  the  network 

208 


STILL  STEUGGLING  ONWAKDS. 


209 


of  streams  into  ^Yhich  the  Senegal  and  the  Niger  divide 
in  their  uppermost  reaches.  One  terrible  necessity  of 
their  situation  was,  that  sick  or  not  sick,  there  could  be 
no  halting  to  allow  of  possible  recovery.  They  must 
push  forward  towards  their  goal,  though  the  route 
should  be  marked  by  the  dead  bodies  of  their  comrades. 
The  longer  the  delay,  the  more  difficult  would  the  march 
become,  from  flooded  rivers,  more  incessant  rains,  and 
the  increasing  swampiness  of  the  country. 

Up  to  this  time  Park  had  followed  his  former  return 
route.  He  now  determined  to  strike  a  line  further 
north  in  order  to  avoid  the  Jallonka  Wilderness,  of 
whose  horrors  he  had  such  a  lively  recollection.  The 
new  route  was  hard  and  rocky,  and  very  fatiguing  to 
the  donkeys.  As  the  day  went  on  many  of  the  sick 
became  hopelessly  unfit  to  drive  their  animals.  One  of 
them  Park  mounted  on  his  own  horse  while  he  himself 
assumed  the  part  of  donkey  driver.  Even  then  four  of 
the  donkeys  had  to  be  left  in  the  woods,  and  he  him- 
self did  not  reach  camp  till  long  after  dark.  Before 
the  tents  could  be  pitched  a  tornado  came  down  upon 
them  and  drenched  them  to  the  skin.  The  ground  was 
speedily  covered  to  a  depth  of  three  inches,  and  in  this 
uncomfortable  plight — fireless,  tentless,  dripping — they 
had  to  pass  the  night.  A  second  tornado  about  two  in 
the  morning  completed  their  discomfiture. 

This  night,  in  Park's  own  words,  was  "the  beginning 
of  sorrows  .  .  .  Now  that  the  rain  had  set  in,  I  trembled 
to  think  that  we  were  only  half  way  through  our 
journey.  The  rain  had  not  commenced  three  minutes 
before  many  of  the  soldiers  were  affected  with  vomiting, 
others  fell  asleep,  and  seemed  as  if  half  intoxicated.  I 
felt  a  strong  inclination  to  sleep  during  the  storm,  and 


210 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGEE. 


as  soon  as  it  was  over  I  fell  asleep  on  the  wet  ground, 
although  I  used  every  exertion  to  keep  myself  awake. 
The  soldiers  likewise  fell  asleep  on  the  wet  bundles." 

The  immediate  result  of  that  night  was  the  addition 
of  twelve  men  to  the  sick  list.  Next  day  all  the  horses 
and  spare  donkeys  were  requisitioned  to  carry  such  as 
were  unable  to  walk.  The  road  proved  to  be  a  difficult 
one  along  the  base  of  the  Konkadu  mountains,  whose 
precipices  overhung  the  line  of  march  in  threatening 
masses. 

Barely  had  camp  been  reached  when  once  more  a 
tornado  burst  in  all  its  fury,  but  thanks  to  the  proximity 
of  a  village,  with  less  disastrous  results  than  on  the  pre- 
vious evening. 

The  storm  past.  Park  proceeded  to  examine  some 
gold  diggings ;  after  which,  accompanied  by  Scott,  he 
set  off  to  the  top  of  the  Konkadu  hills,  finding  them 
cultivated  to  the  highest  elevations.  There  also  he 
found  villages  romantically  situated  in  delightful  glens, 
with  water  and  grass  in  abundance  throughout  the 
year;  and  there,  "while  the  thunder  rolls  in  awful 
grandeur  over  their  heads,  they  can  look  from  their 
tremendous  precipices  over  all  that  wild  and  woody 
plain  which  extends  from  the  Faleme  to  the  Bafing  or 
Black  River." 

To  struggle  forward  handicapped  vsdth  incapable  men 
and  driverless  donkeys  was  now  hard  work.  •  Half  the 
caravan  were  sick,  or  too  weak  to  exert  themselves 
with  effect.  The  result  was  never-ending  confusion  and 
delay.  Unable  to  hold  together,  men  and  donkeys  ahke 
went  astray,  keeping  Park,  who  could  not  be  in  a  dozen 
places  at  once,  in  a  state  of  continual  watchfulness  and 
motion,  doing  his  best  to  bring  up  the  incapables,  and 


STILL  STKUGGLING  ONWARDS.  211 


"  coaxing  "  them  to  further  exertions  each  time  they 
insisted  on  lying  down,  indifferent  alike  to  robbers,  lions, 
or  the  fevers  of  night. 

In  spite  of  his  iron  constitution  and  sangiiine  heroic 
spirit  Park  himself  was  not  altogether  invulnerable, 
and  he  too  became  fevered  at  times — only,  however, 
to  show  himself  superior  to  suffering  by  virtue  of  his 
marvellous  will  and  the  exigencies  of  his  situation. 
Conscious  that  the  whole  fate  of  the  expedition  depended 
upon  his  keeping  well,  he  dared  not  give  way.  He  was 
a  second  self  to  every  one — without  him  all  were  abso- 
lutely helpless. 

On  leaving  Fankia  on  the  15th  of  June,  most  of  the 
men  were  ill,  some  of  them  even  delirious.  In  this  con- 
dition the  caravan  had  to  commence  the  ascent  of  the 
Tambaura  mountains.  The  road  was  excessively  steep 
— the  donkeys  terribly  overloaded  under  their  double 
burden  of  sick  men  and  goods.  Owing  to  the  nature  of 
the  ground,  each  animal  would  have  required  at  least 
one  separate  driver  to  guide  and  assist,  but  in  the 
present  case  this  was  impossible.  The  result  was  a  scene 
of  dreadful  confusion  and  disaster.  Loaded  donkeys 
were  constantly  tumbling  over  the  rocks  or  falling 
exhausted  on  the  pathway,  while  sick  men,  indifferent 
to  their  fate,  threw  themselves  down,  declaring  they 
could  go  no  further.  The  natives,  discovering  the 
predicament  of  the  caravan,  crept  down  among  the 
rocks  and  stole  what  they  could  when  a  favourable 
opportunity  offered. 

At  length,  by  means  of  superhuman  exertions.  Park 
succeeded  in  bringing  all  safely  out  of  the  perilous  pass 
to  a  village,  where  he  had  the  inexpressible  pleasure 
of  meeting  the  Mohammedan  schoolmaster  who  had 


212 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


been  so  kind  to  him  at  Kamalia,  and  while  travelhng 
with  Karfa.  As  an  earnest  of  his  gratitude  for  past 
favours,  Park  gave  him  a  handsome  present  of  cloth, 
beads,  and  amber,  with  which  the  good  old  man  was 
delighted.  The  God-fearing  Scotchman  did  not  neglect 
to  add  an  Arabic  iSTew  Testament  to  his  other  gifts. 

The  history  of  the  expedition  was  now  one  of  grow- 
ing trouble,  sickness,  and  disorganisation.  Tornadoes 
were  almost  of  daily  occurrence,  and  the  country  and 
the  streams  became  more  and  more  difficult  to  traverse. 

Up  to  the  17th  of  June  two  men  had  died,  and  on 
that  date  two  more  w^ere  left  behind  at  the  point  of 
death.  Tlie  three  days  following  Park  himself  was 
sick,  as  were  now  more  than  half  his  men,  though 
still  they  struggled  on.  To  add  to  the  dangers  of  their 
situation,  they  were  utterly  unable  to  keep  proper  watch 
over  their  goods  either  by  day  or  night — a  fact  the 
natives  speedily  learned,  and  constantly  dogged  their 
footsteps,  intent  on  plunder 

At  one  village  the  inhabitants  turned  out  en  masse, 
prepared  to  find  the  white  man's  caravan  so  reduced  by 
sickness  as  to  fall  an  easy  prize.  As  a  preliminary  to 
further  depredations  one  of  the  villagers  seized  the 
bridle  of  the  sergeant's  horse  and  tried  to  lead  it  and 
its  apparently  helpless  owner  inside  the  village  walls. 
The  presentation  of  the  rider's  pistol  made  him  think 
better  of  it.  At  the  same  time  others  made  as  if  they 
would  drive  away  the  donkeys.  They  had  reckoned 
without  their  host,  however.  Galvanised  into  new  life, 
the  soldiers  promptly  loaded  their  muskets  and  fixed 
their  bayonets,  at  sight  of  which  warlike  preparations 
the  natives  were  not  slow  to  quit  their  prey  and  retire 
to  a  safer  distance. 


STILL  STKUGGLING  ONWAKDS.  213 


Having  driven  their  animals  across  a  torrent,  the 
soldiers  left  certain  of  their  number  to  guard  them, 
and  returned  to  the  village,  ready  to  give  its  inhabi- 
tants a  lesson  in  courtesy  and  hospitality.  At  this 
moment  Park  arrived  on  the  scene.  Ever  anxious  to 
avoid  bloodshed,  he  called  a  palaver,  and  speedily  con- 
vinced the  chief  how  insane  it  would  be  for  him  or  his 
people  to  molest  him.  At  the  same  time,  desirous  of 
leaving  a  favourable  impression  behind,  in  case  any  sick 
men  might  have  to  repass  this  way,  Park  gave  the  chief 
a  present,  with  the  remark  that  it  was  to  show  he  did 
not  come  to  make  war,  though  if  he  were  attacked  he 
would  fight  to  the  last. 

Beyond  this  point  the  country  became  picturesque 
beyond  words,  resembling  in  its  physical  features  all 
sorts  of  architectural  forms,  ruined  castles,  spires,  pyra- 
mids. One  rocky  hill  looked  so  like  a  ruined  Gothic 
abbey  that  the  whole  party  had  to  approach  close  to  it 
to  satisfy  themselves  that  its  various  features  were  not 
really  what  they  seemed.  Beyond  this  lusus  naturce  a 
compact  mass  of  red  granite  stood  up  bare  and  gaunt, 
absolutely  destitute  of  a  relieving  blade  of  grass.  Here 
and  there  were  villages  clustering  in  the  curved  niches 
of  giant  precipices,  alike  secured  from  tropic  blasts  and 
the  devastating  attacks  of  men.  Everything  was  rugged 
and  grand — the  sterner  features  only  enhanced  by  the 
interchange  of  beautiful  fertile  hollows  and  silvery 
streams  winding  through  the  green  fields  and  darker 
forest  tracts. 

Similar  scenes  characterised  the  whole  journey  through 
Konkadu,  and  the  caravan  at  length  reached  the  borders 
of  Wuladu  at  the  Bafing.  The  crossing  of  this  river  in 
small  rickety  canoes  was  not  accomplished  without  a  sad 

p 


214 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


fatality,  one  of  them  capsizing  with  three  soldiers,  of 
whom  one  was  drowned. 

The  people  of  Wuladu  had  a  notorious  reputation  as 
thieves,  the  justice  of  which  was  speedily  illustrated  by 
their  various  more  or  less  successful  attempts  to  lift 
from  the  strangers  whatever  they  saw,  thus  keeping 
the  latter  continually  on  the  alert. 

After  crossing  the  Bafing,  many  of  the  sick  who  had 
struggled  on  bravely  so  far  began  to  lose  all  spirit.  An 
unconquerable  lassitude  at  times  seized  them,  and  no 
matter  what  the  danger  of  the  situation,  their  only 
desire  was  to  lie  down  and  be  left  to  die.  To  escape 
the  cajolery  and  coercion  to  which  they  were  subjected, 
they  frequently  left  the  track,  and  gave  their  leader  no 
end  of  worry  and  trouble  hunting  them  up  after  camp 
was  reached.  In  this  way  several  men  disappeared 
altogether,  bringing  up  the  total  losses  on  the  29th 
June  to  nine. 

Besides  its  human  cormorants,  Wuladu  proved  to  be 
infested  with  various  beasts  of  prey,  whereby  further 
anxiety  and  watchfulness  were  entailed  on  the  harassed 
and  despondent  little  band,  weak,  and  growing  every 
day  weaker. 

Anderson  and  Scott,  on  whom  Park  so  much  de- 
pended to  encourage  and  push  on  his  followers,  besides 
themselves  doing  the  work  of  three  or  four,  now  be- 
came incapacitated,  while  as  far  as  we  can  gather 
from  the  journal,  Lieutenant  Martyn  never  seems  to 
have  been  of  any  use.  Everything,  accordingly,  de- 
volved on  the  leader  himself,  who,  ailing  as  he  was, 
had  to  put  forth  superhuman  exertions — driving  refrac- 
tory and  exhausted  donkeys,  lifting  the  fallen,  and  re- 
loading such  as  had  kicked  off  or  dropped  their  burdens 


STILL  STRUGGLING  ONWARDS.  215 


— at  every  step  spurring  on  the  sick  and  despondent  to 
strive  towards  their  destination,  and  not  allow  them- 
selves to  be  murdered  by  natives,  devoured  by  wild 
beasts,  or  overcome  by  the  deadly  malaria  of  the 
jungles.  In  camp  he  had  as  little  rest  as  on  the  road. 
No  one  else  was  fit  to  do  anything — or  being  fit,  was 
not  willing — so  that  he  had  to  be  man-of-all-work  to 
nearly  forty  men  The  night  brought  neither  oblivion 
nor  relaxation  —  only  new  anxieties  and  new  duties. 
Sleep  he  could  only  get  in  short  snatches  —  between 
whiles  taking  his  astronomical  observations,  and  making 
the  round  of  the  camp  to  stir  up  indifferent  and  sickly 
sentinels.  Not  unfrequently  he  had  to  mount  guard 
himself  throughout  the  whole  night  to  save  the  donkeys 
from  being  killed  or  stampeded  by  the  wild  beasts  which 
kept  constantly  prowling  about.  The  stormier  the  night, 
the  greater  necessity  was  there  for  him  to  be  up  and 
doing,  no  matter  what  the  cost  to  himself  personally. 

On  the  4th  of  July  the  Furkomo  River,  another  im- 
portant tributary  of  the  Senegal,  was  reached.  The 
number  of  deaths  now  amounted  to  eleven,  most  of  them 
having  occurred  within  the  last  fortnight. 

In  crossing  the  Furkomo  or  Bakhoy,  Isaaco  had  a 
narrow  escape  from  a  crocodile.  When  near  the  middle 
of  the  river,  he  was  seized  by  the  left  thigh  and  pulled 
under  water.  With  wonderful  presence  of  mind  he 
thrust  his  finger  into  the  reptile's  eye,  with  the  result 
that  it  let  go  its  hold.  Ere  he  could  regain  the  shore, 
however,  the  crocodile  returned  to  the  attack,  and  seized 
him  by  the  other  thigh.  Again  he  thrust  his  finger  into 
its  eye,  with  a  similar  happy  result,  and  before  it  could 
come  at  him  again,  bleeding  and  lacerated,  he  reached 
land.    That  night,  though  it  threatened  rain,  every  one 


216 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


was  so  sick  and  exhausted — even  Park  being  unable  to 
stand  upright — that  it  was  only  with  the  utmost  diffi- 
culty that  the  tents  were  put  up  and  the  loads  placed 
inside.  Isaaco's  wounds  made  travelling  impossible  for 
him,  and  as  the  caravan  was  largely  dependent  on  his 
services,  a  three  days'  halt  was  decided  on. 

With  the  guide^s  partial  recovery  the  march  was  con- 
tinued to  Keminum,  the  neighbourhood  of  which  they 
reached  with  apprehension.  The  town  was  fortified  in 
a  remarkably  strong  fashion.  There  was  first  a  ditch 
8  feet  deep,  backed  by  a  wall  as  many  feet  high.  Inside 
was  a  second  wall  lo  feet  in  height,  within  which  was  a 
third  of  1 6  feet. 

The  chief  and  his  thirty  sons  were  neither  more  nor 
less  than  an  organised  band  of  robbers  who  terrorised 
over  the  whole  district.  AmjDle  evidence  of  the  manner 
of  his  rule  was  afforded  by  the  heap  of  human  bones 
outside  the  walls,  where  he  executed  such  prisoners  as 
were  not  made  slaves  of.  During  the  night  all  the 
energies  of  the  caravan  were  employed  in  seeking  to 
protect  themselves  from  the  incessant  attempts  of  the 
natives  to  steal ;  but  so  helpless  were  most  of  the  men 
that  they  allowed  themselves  to  be  deprived  of  great- 
coats, muskets,  pistols,  almost  without  resistance. 

The  morning  brought  no  reprieve.  The  chief's  sons, 
not  satisfied  with  their  share  of  the  present  and  the 
plunder,  did  their  best  to  secure  some  valuable  souvenirs 
of  the  white  man.  This  one  of  them  first  tried  to  do 
wholesale  by  simply  lifting  a  load  from  a  donkey,  but 
the  culprit  was  chased  and  had  to  drop  his  plunder. 
The  confusion  produced  by  this  incident  gave  another 
thief  a  chance  to  bolt  with  a  musket. 

Innumerable  exasperating  attempts  of  a  similar  nature 


STILL  STRUGGLING  ONWARDS. 


217 


kept  Park  in  constant  alarm  lest  some  of  the  soldiers 
should  use  their  weapons  and  precipitate  a  fight. 
Accordingly,  his  chief  anxiety  became  to  get  away  as 
quickly  as  possible.  Riding  a  little  way  out  of  the 
village  to  see  the  nature  of  the  road  ahead,  one  of  the 
chief's  sons  distracted  his  attention  while  he  halted, 
whereupon  the  other  suddenly  snatched  away  the  tra- 
veller's loosely  held  musket.  At  once  Park'  gave  chase 
with  brandished  sword.  Anderson,  seeing  what  had 
occurred,  rushed  to  his  assistance  with  upraised  gun ; 
but  observing  who  was  the  offender,  he  hesitated  to  fire, 
with  the  result  that  the  thief  escaped  safely  to  the  rocks. 
Meanwhile  the  brother  had  leisurely  helped  himself  to 
whatever  loose  property  he  found  on  Park's  hoi^e. 

Orders  were  now  given  to  shoot  the  first  person  found 
stealing.  But  the  princes  were  not  easily  frightened, 
and  during  a  tornado  that  burst  overhead,  one  of  them 
got  off  with  a  musket  and  a  couple  of  pistols.  An 
attempt  was  next  made  to  drive  off  the  donkeys,  but  for- 
timately  was  frustrated.  By  way  of  example,  a  native 
detected  in  stealing  was  promptly  fired  at.  On  the 
march  being  resumed,  every  foot  of  the  road  was  dogged 
by  the  plundering  wretches,  who  scented  their  prey  in 
every  man  who  lagged  behind,  and  every  donkey  that 
fell  or  strayed  from  the  path. 

It  was  dark  before  a  camping  place  was  reached,  and 
the  night  was  passed  in  much  misery,  man  and  beast 
lying  on  the  wet  ground  without  shelter,  exposed  to  the 
excessively  heavy  dews. 

The  march  through  Wuladu  was  simply  a  daily 
repetition  of  the  experiences  at  Keminum.  Thieves 
hung  on  the  skirts  of  the  caravan  like  hyenas  on  the 
track  of  blood,  never  quitting  them  by  night  or  by  day. 


218 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


All  stragglers,  human  or  animal,  they  made  their  prey, 
and  by  their  attempted  depredations  kept  the  unhappy 
travellers  in  constant  alarm.  Each  morning  and  even- 
ing had  its  tale  of  loss.  Everything,  however,  was 
tolerated,  that  bloodshed  might  be  avoided — a  forbear- 
ance only  looked  upon  as  weakness  and  cowardice 
by  the  natives,  who  were  encouraged  accordingly  to 
continue  their  marauding  with  increased  audacity. 
Park  was  at  length  driven  to  stronger  measures,  and 
on  one  occasion  pursued  a  robber  on  horseback,  and 
after  hunting  him  down,  shot  him  through  the  leg. 
This  example  had  a  most  salutary  effect  for  a  time, 
though  that  day's  tale  of  spoliation  alone  included  the 
more  or  less  complete  stripping  of  four  sick  men,  and 
a  donkey  loaded  with  the  muskets,  &c.,  of  the  other 
invalids. 

Let  us  quote  a  characteristic  day's  proceedings  from 
Park's  own  journal  : — 

July  igtJi, — Having  purchased  an  ass  in  lieu  of  the 
one  stolen,  we  left  Nummabu,  which  is  a  walled  village, 
and  proceeded  onwards.  Had  two  tornadoes.  The  last, 
about  eleven  o'clock,  wetted  us  much,  and  made  the  road 
slippery.  Two  asses  unable  to  go  on.  Put  their  loads 
on  the  horses  and  left  them.  Mr.  Scott's  horse  unable 
to  walk.  Left  it  to  our  guide.  At  noon  came  to  the 
ruins  of  a  town.  Found  two  more  of  the  asses  unable 
to  carry  their  loads.  Hired  people  to  carry  the  loads, 
and  a  boy  to  drive  the  asses.  Passed  the  ruins  of 
another  town  at  half- past  twelve,  where  I  found  two  of 
the  sick  who  had  laid  themselves  down  under  a  tree  and 
refused  to  rise.  They  were  afterwards  stripped  by  the 
negroes,  and  came  naked  to  our  tents  next  morning. 
Shortly  after  this  came  to  an  ass  lying  on  the  road 


STILL  STRUGGLING  ONWARDS. 


219 


unable  to  proceed  with  its  load.  Put  part  of  the  load 
on  my  horse,  which  was  already  heavily  loaded.  Took 
a  knapsack  on  my  back.  The  soldier  carried  the  re- 
mainder, and  drove  the  ass  before  him.  We  arrived 
at  the  Ba  Winbina  at  half-past  one  o'clock."  Here 
follows  a  description  of  how  a  bridge  was  built,  which, 
though  instructive  in  the  extreme,  is  too  long  for  in- 
sertion. Our  people  being  all  sickly,  I  hired  the 
negroes  to  carry  over  all  the  baggage,  and  swim  over 
the  asses.  Our  baggage  was  laid  on  the  rocks  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  but  such  was  our  weakly  state 
that  we  were  unable  to  carry  it  up  the  bank.  Francis 
Beedle,  one  of  the  soldiers,  was  evidently  dying  of  the 
fever,  and  having  in  vain  attempted,  with  the  assistance 
of  one  of  his  messmates,  to  carry  him  over,  I  was  forced 
to  leave  him  on  the  west  bank,  thinking  it  very  probable 
that  he  would  die  in  the  course  of  the  night." 

Day  after  day  the  same  disheartening  tale  had  to  be 
told.  Now  a  man  is  found  expiring,  and  no  time  can 
be  lost  waiting  for  his  death.  Anon  another  left  for 
dead  is  galvanised  into  life  by  the  appearance  of  wolves 
ready  to  make  a  meal  of  him.  On  the  27  th  July  one 
man  had  to  be  left  in  camp  at  the  point  of  death — 
four  more  dropped  down  on  the  road  and  refused  to 
proceed,  wishing  only  to  die.  Park  himself  was  "  very 
sick  and  faint,  having  to  drive  my  horse  loaded  with 
rice  and  an  ass  with  the  pit  saw.  Came  to  an  eminence 
from  which  I  had  a  view  of  some  very  distant  moun- 
tains to  the  east  half  south.  The  certainty  that  the 
Niger  washes  the  southern  base  of  these  mountains 
made  me  forget  my  fever,  and  I  thought  of  nothing 
all  the  way  but  how  to  climb  over  their  blue  summits." 
But  to  his  men  the  sight  gave  neither  health  nor  in- 


220 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


spiration,  and  but  for  the  fact  that  to  go  back  was  as 
difficult  as  to  push  forward,  they  would  speedily  have 
shown  in  what  direction  their  desires  tended. 

What  the  inmost  thoughts  of  the  intrepid  explorer 
were  at  this  time  we  would  give  much  to  know.  In  his 
journal  he  nowhere  lifts  the  veil.  Throughout  there  is 
only  the  bare  statement  of  fact  that  to-day  so-and-so  has 
died — yesterday  such  another  had  to  be  left  to  his  fate  : 
here  a  donkey  was  plundered — there  an  astronomical 
observation  taken.  The  one  thing  that  can  touch  his 
feelings  is  the  sight  of  the  blue  summits  of  distant  hills 
whose  bases  are  washed  by  the  waters  of  the  INiger. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


TO  THE  NIGER. 

Writing  home  on  the  29th  of  May,  Park,  calculating 
from  his  rate  of  progress  so  far,  predicted  that  he  would 
reach  the  Niger  on  the  27th  of  June.  It  was  now  the 
27th  of  July,  and  he  was  still  in  the  heart  of  Wuladu, 
and  quite  a  hundred  miles  in  a  straight  line  from 
Bammaku,  his  primary  destination. 

Meanwhile  every  one  of  the  donkeys  he  had  originally 
started  with  had  died  or  been  stolen,  and  great  inroads  had 
been  made  on  his  stores  in  replacing  them,  not  to  speak 
of  the  loss  entailed  by  plunder  and  other  unforeseen 
causes.  Twenty  of  his  men  had  died  or  been  murdered, 
and  all  of  them  were  more  or  less  unfit  for  work. 
Nevertheless  his  hopes  were  as  unquenchable  as  ever, 
and  he  buoyed  himself  up  with  the  belief  that  if  he 
could  reach  the  Niger  with  a  certain  proportion  of  his 
caravan,  the  success  of  his  mission  would  be  assured,  as 
the  rest  of  the  wet  season  might  be  passed  in  compara- 
tive comfort  while  making  preparations  for  navigating 
the  river.  Once  launched  on  its  broad  bosom,  there 
would  be  no  more  transport  difficulties,  and  but  little 
work  for  his  men,  so  that  everything  might  be  expected 
to  end  happily  and  successfully. 

Looking  forward  thus  hopefully.  Park  turned  S.W. 

from  Bangassi,  the  chief  town  of  Wuladu,  and  set  his 

221 


222  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 

face  towards  Bammaku.  But  however  sanguine  he 
might  be,  he  could  not  improve  the  conditions  of  his 
march.  The  rains  were  now  at  their  very  worst.  They 
fell  no  longer  in  passing  tornadoes,  but  in  an  incessant 
drenching  downpour.  Every  stream  was  swollen  to  the 
dimensions  of  a  river — every  plain  became  a  lake  or 
swamp  through  which  the  luckless  travellers  had  to  slip 
and  plunge  as  best  they  might.  The  very  pathways 
developed  into  rushing  torrents.  Subjected  to  such 
conditions  of  travel,  disease  demanded  its  daily  quota 
of  victims,  while  reducing  the  strength  of  all  to  the 
vanishing  point.  The  men  speedily  became  unable  to 
load  their  animals — could  hardly  even  drive  them  along. 
Nearly  the  whole  work  of  the  caravan  fell  upon  its 
indomitable  leader,  who  even  on  the  road  would  some- 
times have  as  many  as  thirteen  fallen  donkeys  to  raise 
up  and  reload. 

On  the  7th  of  August  matters  became  so  bad  that  he 
found  it  necessary  to  halt  for  two  days — a  delay  which 
to  him  was  almost  maddening. 

At  the  Ba  Wulima,  Park  found  Anderson  lying  under 
a  bush  apparently  dying,  and  had  to  carry  him  over  on 
his  back.  To  assist  in  the  transport  of  loads,  &c.,  he 
had  to  cross  the  river  sixteen  times,  with  the  water 
reaching  to  his  waist.  In  spite  of  his  exertions,  how- 
ever, several  soldiers  with  their  donkeys  had  to  be  left 
behind. 

In  two  days  four  men  had  been  lost — the  slow  agony 
of  death  from  fever  being  undoubtedly  in  each  case 
accelerated  by  the  daggers  of  robber  negroes  or  the  fell 
fangs  of  wolves  and  other  wild  beasts. 

On  the  day  after  leaving  the  Ba  Wulima,  Park  was 
the  only  European  able  to  do  any  work,  and  but  for  the 


TO  THE  NIGER. 


223 


assistance  of  Tsaaco  and  his  men,  the  caravan  would  have 
been  compelled  to  remain  in  camp.  The  day's  march 
was  a  trying  one.  Anderson  seemed  at  the  point  of 
death,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  his  brother-in- 
law  succeeded  in  holding  him  on  a  horse.  Every  hour 
threatened  to  be  his  last,  and  only  by  frequent  rests 
could  he  be  got  forward  in  short  stages.  While  thus 
employed  supporting  and  cheering  his  well-loved  friend 
on  the  way  towards  camp,  Park  was  suddenly  con- 
founded by  coming  face  to  face  with  three  large  lions 
making  rapidly  towards  them.  Intent  first  of  all  on 
saving  Anderson,  with  splendid  courage  he  ran  forward 
to  meet  them  half  way,  and  so  as  to  reserve  himself  a 
second  chance  if  his  musket  should  miss  fire,  he  aimed 
as  soon  as  the  lions  were  within  easy  shot,  and  fired  at 
the  middle  one  of  the  three.  This  reception  brought 
the  enemy  to  a  standstill,  and  after  seemingly  taking 
counsel  of  each  other,  they  turned  tail  and  bounded 
away.  One,  however,  quickly  stopped,  and  turned  round 
as  if  meditating  another  attack,  but  thinking  better  of 
it,  again  resumed  its  flight,  and  left  the  travellers  to 
continue  their  way,  though  not  without  the  strongest 
suspicions  that  they  were  still  being  tracked,  and  might 
be  pounced  upon  in  the  fast  gathering  darkness.  Before 
camp  was  reached  the  path  taken  by  the  caravan  was  lost, 
and  in  the  darkness  Park  and  his  companion  wandered 
into  a  gully,  where  the  road  became  so  dangerous  that  at 
length  they  dared  not  move  further  from  fear  of  being 
killed  by  falling  over  a  precipice.  Accordingly  they  were 
compelled  to  make  the  best  of  their  position,  and  wait  till 
morning  ten  tie  ss  and  foodless.  Fortunately  they  were 
able  to  raise  a  fire,  near  which,  while  Anderson  lay 
wrapt  in  a  cloak,  Park  kept  watch  all  night,  to  drive 


224 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


off  lions  and  wolves.  In  the  morning  it  was  discovered 
that  half  the  caravan  had  passed  the  night  in  scattered 
parties  in  much  the  same  manner  as  their  leader. 
Happily  there  were  no  casualties. 

At  a  place  called  Dumbila,  Park  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  his  old  friend  and  protector,  Karfa  Taura.  Here 
Anderson  became  too  ill  to  be  moved,  Scott  had  dis- 
appeared, and  only  one  man  was  able  to  drive  a  donkey. 
At  night  rain  descended  in  drenching  torrents,  and  the 
men  took  refuge  in  the  village,  leaving  their  leader 
alone  to  watch  that  the  donkeys  did  not  stray  into  the 
neighbouring  corn-fields,  and  to  defend  them  and  their 
loads  alike  from  the  attacks  of  wild  beasts  and  from  the 
bands  of  marauding  natives.  But  no  matter  how  heavy 
the  burdens,  not  a  grumble  escaped  the  hero  who  had 
to  bear  them  all — not  a  hint  that  he  felt  himself  badly 
treated  by  his  men  and  their  officers. 

On  the  19th  of  August,  Park,  with  the  helpless, 
shattered  remnant  of  his  caravan,  ascended  the  moun- 
tain ridge  which  forms  the  watershed  between  the  Sene- 
gal and  the  Niger.  Pushing  on  eagerly  to  the  summit 
of  the  hill,  the  toil  and  careworn  traveller's  eyes  were 
gladdened  by  the  spectacle  of  the  "Niger  rolling  its 
immense  stream  along  the  plain." 

"  After  the  fatiguing  march  which  we  had  just  ex- 
perienced, the  sight  of  this  river  was  no  doubt  plea- 
sant, as  it  promised  an  end  to,  or  at  least  an  alleviation 
of,  our  toils.  But  when  I  reflected  that  three-fourths 
of  the  soldiers  had  died  on  the  march,  and  that  in 
addition  to  our  weakly  state  we  had  no  carpenters  to 
build  the  boats  in  which  we  proposed  to  prosecute  our 
discoveries,  the  prospect  appeared  somewhat  gloomy.  It, 
however,  afforded  me  peculiar  pleasure  when  I  reflected 


TO  THE  NIGEK. 


225 


that  in  conducting  a  party  of  Europeans  with  immense 
baggage  through  an  extent  of  more  than  five  hundred 
miles,  I  had  always  been  able  to  preserve  the  most 
friendly  terms  with  the  natives." 

The  latter  sentence  is  well  worthy  of  note  as  illus- 
trative of  Park's  methods  of  travel  at  a  time  when  the 
sanctity  of  human  life,  whether  black  or  white,  was  not 
quite  so  much  thought  of  as  at  present. 

In  speaking  of  the  distance  traversed  as  five  hundred 
miles,  it  must  be  remembered  that  what  is  meant  is  the 
distance  in  a  straight  line  expressed  in  geographical 
miles.  The  actual  number  of  English  miles  travelled 
over  would  be  in  reality  little  short  of  a  thousand. 

Notwithstanding  his  frightful  experiences.  Park  con- 
sidered that  his  journey  plainly  demonstrates — first, 
that  with  common  prudence  any  quantity  of  merchan- 
dise may  be  transported  from  the  Gambia  to  the  Niger 
without  danger  of  being  robbed  by  the  natives ;  second, 
that  if  this  journey  be  performed  in  the  dry  season,  one 
may  calculate  on  losing  not  more  than  three,  or  at  most 
four  men,  out  of  fifty." 

AVe  would  naturally  have  expected  him  to  add  as  a 
third  conclusion,  that  under  no  circumstance  should 
Europeans  be  employed  in  such  a  caravan  except  as 
conductors,  or  it  might  be  as  guards.  That  conclusion, 
however,  he  apparently  did  not  reach — indeed,  we  look 
in  vain  throughout  his  journal  for  any  indication  that 
he  was  at  all  aware  of  the  frightful  nature  of  his 
blunder  in  starting  only  with  Europeans. 

And  yet  before  him  was  the  tangible  fact,  that  of 
thirty-four  soldiers  and  four  carpenters  who  left  the 
Gambia  with  him,  only  seven  entered  Bammaku,  while 
Isaaco  and  his  attendants  were  all  alive  and  hearty, 


226 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


though  much  of  the  white  men's  work  had  fallen  upon 
them  in  addition  to  their  own. 

Three  days  after  their  arrival  at  Bammaku  the 
travellers  continued  their  way.  Martyn,  with  the  men 
and  the  donkeys,  proceeded  by  land,  while  Park,  Ander- 
son, and  the  goods  glided  down  the  river  in  canoes,  at 
the  rate  of  five  knots  an  hour,  without  the  necessity  of 
paddling.  At  their  starting  point  the  river  was  a  mile 
broad ;  but  further  down,  where  it  passes  through  a 
range  of  hills  and  forms  rapids,  it  attains  twice  that 
breadth.  Here  the  great  mass  of  water  is  gathered 
into  three  principal  channels,  along  which  it  rushes 
with  much  noise,  and  a  speed  which  made  Park  sigh  as 
the  frail  canoes  containing  all  his  precious  stores  sped 
into  the  sweeping  tide,  and  seemed  threatened  with 
momentary  destruction. 

Two  such  rapids  and  three  smaller  ones  were  safely 
passed  during  the  afternoon.  At  one  place  an  elephant 
was  seen  standing  on  an  island,  so  near  that  if  Park 
had  not  been  too  ill,  he  would  have  had  a  shot  at  it. 

At  several  points  the  canoes  ran  considerable  danger 
of  being  upset  by  hippos.  At  night  the  party  landed, 
and  after  a  supper  of  rice  and  fresh-water  turtle,  spent 
a  night  exposed  to  the  violence  of  a  tropic  storm. 

At  Marrabu,  where  they  arrived  on  the  second  day, 
a  halt  was  called,  while  Isaaco  was  despatched  to  Sego 
with  a  message  and  a  present  for  Mansong,  king  of 
Bambarra,  whose  good  offices  were  likely  to  prove  in- 
valuable, ruling  as  he  did  over  the  whole  country  from 
Bammaku  to  Timbuktu.  While  awaiting  his  messenger's 
return,  Park,  who  had  been  suffering  from  dysentery  ever 
since  his  arrival  on  the  river,  and  found  himself  failing 
fast  under  its  deadly  attacks,  dosed  himself  with  calomel 


TO  THE  NIGER. 


227 


till  it  affected  his  throat  to  such  a  degree  that  he  could 
neither  speak  nor  sleep  for  six  days.  The  experiment  was 
successful,  however,  as  regards  stopping  the  progress  of 
the  disease,  and  his  health  speedily  began  to  improve. 

The  interval  of  waiting  to  which  he  was  now  sub- 
jected was  a  time  of  extreme  anxiety.  The  check 
which  all  the  physical  difficulties  of  the  march  and  the 
death  of  three-fourths  of  his  men  had  failed  to  give 
him  might  be  effected  by  the  will  of  Mansong.  On  the 
decision  of  the  negro  ruler  depended  Park's  further  move- 
ments. A  Yes  might  assure  the  complete  realisation  of 
all  his  dearest  hopes — a  No  would  be  their  death-knell. 

Each  day  brought  its  crop  of  unfavourable  rumours. 
Among  others  came  the  report  that  Mansong  had  killed 
Isaaco  with  his  own  hands,  and  intended  to  finish  off 
the  white  men  in  a  similar  summary  fashion.  Happily 
this  and  kindred  stories  proved  to  be  pure  inventions, 
and  after  a  fortnight's  delay  a  messenger  arrived  to 
conduct  Park  to  Sego,  bringing  with  him  an  encouraging 
account  of  Mansong's  disposition  towards  him. 

The  drastic  methods  of  the  emissaries  of  negro  kings 
were  well  illustrated  by  the  following  incident.  A  native 
refusing  to  give  up  a  canoe  for  the  messenger's  use,  the 
latter  not  only  seized  the  canoe  in  question,  but  cut  the 
owner  across  the  forehead  with  his  sword,  broke  the 
brother's  head  with  a  paddle,  and  finally  made  a  slave 
of  the  son.    Before  such  deeds  criticism  was  dumb. 

And  now  all  seemed  about  to  go  well  with  the  expedi- 
tion. Cradled  on  the  majestic  bosom  of  the  great  river, 
with  toils  and  worry  over,  its  leader  could  afford  to 
allow  himself  to  be  lulled  into  a  sweet  dreamland,  in 
which  he  saw  himself  gliding  peacefully  towards  the 
Congo  and  the  Atlantic.    Of  goods  he  had  still  sufficient 


228 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


for  his  object — of  men,  too,  there  were  enough ;  and 
with  mind  thus  comparatively  at  ease,  he  could  give 
himself  up  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  beautiful  views  of 
"  this  immense  river — sometimes  as  smooth  as  a  mirror, 
at  others  ruffled  by  a  gentle  breeze,  but  at  all  times 
sweeping  along  at  the  rate  of  six  or  seven  miles  an 
hour." 

In  two  days  Yamina  was  reached,  and  a  third  brought 
the  party  to  Sami,  where  once  more  they  halted  Avhile 
the  messenger  went  forward  to  inform  Mansong  of 
their  proximity,  and  ask  instructions  concerning  them. 
Two  days  later  Isaaco  joined  them  from  Sego.  He 
reported  that  Mansong's  position  was  very  neutral. 
The  king  showed  impatience  when  the  subject  of  the 
white  men  was  broached,  though  he  had  said  that  they 
were  at  liberty  to  pass  down  the  river.  In  addition  he 
gave  Isaaco  to  understand  that  he  wanted  no  direct 
dealings  with  Park. 

On  the  following  day  a  king's  messenger  arrived  to 
receive  Mansong's  present  from  Park's  own  hands,  as 
well  as  to  hear  the  object  of  his  visit.  In  his  speech 
the  traveller  told  how  he  was  the  same  poor  white  man 
who,  after  being  plundered  by  the  Moors,  was  so  hospi- 
tably received  by  their  king,  whose  generous  conduct 
had  made  his  name  much  respected  in  the  country  of 
the  Europeans.  He  then  proceeded  to  point  out  what 
a  trading  people  his  (the  traveller's)  were,  and  how  all 
the  articles  of  value  that  reached  the  country  of  Man- 
song  were  made  by  them,  being  afterwards  brought  by 
Moors  and  others  by  long  and  expensive  routes,  which 
made  everything  extremely  dear.  That  these  European 
goods  might  be  brought  cheaper  to  Bambarra  for  the 
mutual  benefit  of  whites  and  blacks,  his  king  had  sent 


TO  THE  NIGER. 


229 


him  to  see  if  a  short  and  easy  route  could  not  be  found 
by  way  of  the  Niger.  If  such  was  discovered,  then 
the  white  men's  vessels  would  come  direct  all  the  way 
from  Europe  and  supply  them  with  abundance  of  all 
their  good  things  at  cheap  prices. 

In  reply  to  this  speech  the  emissary  said  that  the 
white  man's  journey  was  a  good  one,  and  prayed  that 
God  might  prosper  him  in  it.  Mansong  would  protect 
him.  The  sight  of  the  presents  added  to  the  friendly 
feelings  thus  expressed. 

To  dash  Park's  joy  at  the  favourable  aspect  of  affairs 
two  more  soldiers  died — one  of  fever,  the  other  of  dysen- 
tery— leaving  him  with  only  four  men,  besides  Anderson 
and  Marty n. 

In  a  couple  of  days  the  king  sent  a  further  message 
intimating  that  the  white  strangers  would  be  protected, 
and  that  wherever  his  power  and  influence  extended  the 
road  would  be  open  to  them.  If  they  went  East,  no  man 
would  harm  them  till  beyond  Timbuktu.  Westward, 
the  name  of  Mansong's  stranger  would  be  a  safe  pass- 
word through  the  land  to  the  Atlantic  itself.  If  they 
wished  to  sail  down  the  river,  they  were  at  liberty  to 
build  boats  at  any  town  they  pleased. 

As  Mansong  had  never  once  expressed  a  wish  to  see 
him,  and  seemingly  had  some  superstitious  fear  of  the 
possible  consequence,  Park  fixed  upon  Sansandig  as  the 
best  place  to  prepare  for  his  new  adventure.  Here, 
too,  he  would  have  more  quiet,  and  would  be  more 
exempt  from  begging,  than  within  the  daily  range  of 
the  king's  ofiicials. 

In  his  passage  from  Sami  to  Sansandig,  Park  was 
attacked  by  a  violent  fever,  which  rendered  him  tem- 
porarily delirious.    According  to  the  sufferer,  the  heat 

Q 


230 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


was  so  terrific  as  to  have  been  equal  to  the  roasting  of 
a  sirloin,  and  there  was  neither  covering  to  ward  it  off 
nor  slightest  puff  of  wind  to  temper  it. 

On  reaching  his  destination  the  traveller  was  received 
by  his  old  friend  Kunti  Mamadi,  who  placed  the  neces- 
sary huts  at  his  disposal.  On  the  following  day  two 
more  of  his  men  expired,  and  it  began  to  look  as  if  at 
the  very  moment  when  success  seemed  assured  he  was 
to  be  doomed  to  lose  all.  So  frightfully  were  they  all 
reduced  at  this  time,  and  so  little  able  to  look  after  each 
other,  that,  unmolested,  hyenas  entered  the  dead  men's 
hut,  dragged  one  of  them  out,  and  devoured  him. 

From  Park's  journal  we  get  an  interesting  glimpse 
of  Sansandig,  with  its  ii,ooo  inhabitants  and  its 
mosques,  of  which  two  were  by  "no  means  inelegant." 
But,  as  in  all  African  towns,  it  was  the  market-place 
which  was  the  centre  of  life  and  interest.  From 
morning  till  night  the  square  was  crowded  with  busy 
groups  of  people  gathered  round  the  various  mat-covered 
stalls  which  formed  the  shops,  each  containing  its  own 
speciality — beads  in  every  gorgeous  hue  to  catch  the 
eye  of  the  ornament-loving  sex,  antimony  to  darken  and 
beautify  the  tips  of  the  ladies'  eyelids,  rings  and  brace- 
lets to  attract  wandering  male  glances  to  female  feet 
and  hands.  In  more  substantial  houses  were  scarlet 
cloths,  silks,  amber,  and  other  valuable  commodities 
which  had  found  their  way  across  the  desert  from 
Morocco  or  Tripoli — over  roads  marked  out  by  the 
skeletons  of  slaves  and  camels  who  had  sunk  down 
,  to  perish  under  the  frightful  hardships  of  the  route. 
Vegetables,  meat,  salt,  &c.,  each  had  their  own  stalls — 
beer,  too,  in  large  quantities,  near  a  booth  where  leather 
work  found  its  purchasers. 


TO  THE  NIGER. 


231 


Stich  was  the  everyday  state  of  the  square  ;  but  the 
scene  was  still  more  animated  and  interesting  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Tuesday  weekly  market.  On  that  day 
enormous  crowds  of  people  gathered  from  the  whole 
surrounding  country  to  buy  and  sell  wholesale,  and 
many  were  the  delightful  glimpses  of  native  life  and 
character  continually  presenting  themselves  to  the  eyes 
of  the  observant  traveller.  He  even  found  a  means 
whereby  to  turn  the  market  to  his  own  advantage. 

Mansong  being  slow  in  carrying  out  his  promise  to 
supply  canoes  to  be  turned  into  boats,  Park  opened  a 
shop  himself  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging  some  of  his 
articles  for  cowries,  by  which  he  hoped  to  purchase  the 
necessary  means  of  transport.  He  made  such  a  tempt- 
ing display  that  he  had  at  once  a  great  run  of  business, 
and  became  the  envy  of  all  the  merchants  of  the  place. 
In  one  day  he  secured  25,000  cowries. 

While  thus  peacefully  employed,  every  effort  was 
being  made  on  the  part  of  the  Moors  and  native 
merchants  in  order  to  set  Mansong  against  the  white 
man,  and  get  him  killed,  or  sent  back  by  the  way  he  had 
come.  They  even  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  his  object 
was  to  kill  the  king  and  his  sons  by  means  of  charms. 
Mansong,  however,  was  not  to  be  prevailed  on  by  such 
instigations,  though  his  behaviour  Ishowed  some  belief 
in  the  reported  magical  powers. 

After  much  delay,  Park  succeeded  in  obtaining  two 
canoes,  to  join  which  together  he  and  Bolton,  the  sole 
remaining  capable  man,  now  set  themselves  with  great 
vigour.  The  rotten  parts  were  replaced,  the  holes  were 
repaired,  and  after  eighteen  days'  hard  labour  the  united 
canoes  were  launched  and  christened  His  Majesty's 
schooner  Joliha,  the  length  being  forty  feet,  and  the 


232 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER 


breadth  six.  Being  flat-bottomed,  it  drew  only  one  foot 
of  water. 

While  Park  was  thus  toiling  with  feverish  energy  to 
complete  his  preparations,  Martyn  seems  to  have  been 
taking  life  very  easily.  From  a  letter  written  from 
Sansandig  to  a  friend  at  Goree  we  get  an  idea  of  the 
sort  of  man  he  was,  and  how  much  he  assisted  in  the 
work  of  the  expedition.  "  Whitebread's  beer,"  says  the 
Lieutenant,  "  is  nothing  to  what  we  get  at  this  place, 
as  I  feel  by  my  head  this  morning,  having  been  drink- 
ing all  night  with  a  Moor,  and  ended  by  giving  him 
an  excellent  thrashing."  Could  the  contrast  possibly  be 
greater  between  Park  and  this  man — the  one  possessed 
with  a  consuming  desire  to  accomplish  a  work  seem- 
ingly beyond  mortal  power,  slaving  with  the  strength 
of  half-a-dozen  ordinary  men,  uncrushed  by  a  myriad 
misfortunes,  his  hero's  spirit  equal  to  every  difficulty 
and  danger ;  the  other  spending  his  time  in  drunken 
orgies,  seemingly  as  careless  of  his  life  as  indifferent  to 
the  great  mission  that  was  partly  his. 

The  last  and  worst  stroke  of  evil  fortune  that  could 
befall  Park  came  upon  him  in  the  form  of  his  brother- 
in-law  Anderson's  death,  which  occurred  on  the  28th 
October.  He  had  been  Paik's  special  support  in  all 
his  trials,  ever  the  one  to  whom  he  could  open  his  heart, 
or  from  whom  he  could  seek  advice  and  encouragement. 
His  thoughts  and  feelings  on  the  occasion,  Park,  with 
characteristic  reserve,  does  not  put  on  paper,  though  he 
cannot  help  observing  "that  no  event  which  took  place 
during  the  journey  ever  threw  the  smallest  gloom  on 
my  mind  till  I  laid  Mr.  Anderson  in  the  grave.  I  then 
felt  myself  as  if  left  a  second  time  lonely  and  friendless 
amidst  the  wilds  of  Africa." 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


THE   LAST  OF  PARK. 

By  the  middle  of  November  the  last  preparations  for  the 
great  voyage  on  the  Niger  were  completed.  Isaaco  had 
been  paid  off,  and  one  Amadi  Fatuma,  a  native  of  Kar- 
son,  and  a  great  traveller,  hired  in  his  place  to  guide  the 
party  to  Kashna,  which  Park  still  believed  to  be  on  the 
river.  To  Isaaco,  Park's  precious  journal  was  entrusted 
for  conveyance  home. 

On  the  17th  November,  dating  from  "On  board  of 
H.M.  schooner  Joliba,  at  anchor  off  Sansandig,"  Park 
wrote  to  Lord  Camden.  After  some  remarks  on  his 
situation,  he  continues — 

"From  this  account  I  am  afraid  that  your  Lordship 
will  be  apt  to  consider  matters  as  in  a  very  hopeless 
state,  but  I  assure  you  I  am  far  from  desponding. 
With  the  assistance  of  one  of  the  soldiers  I  have  changed 
a  large  canoe  into  a  tolerably  good  schooner,  on  board 
of  which  I  shall  set  sail  to  the  east,  with  the  fixed  reso- 
lution to  discover  the  termination  of  the  Niger  or  perish 
in  the  attempt.  I  have  heard  nothing  I  can  depend  on 
respecting  the  remote  course  of  this  mighty  stream,  but 
I  am  more  and  more  inclined  to  think  that  it  can  end 
nowhere  but  in  the  sea. 

"My  dear  friend  Mr.  Anderson,  and  likewise  Mr. 

Scott,  are  both  dead;  but  though  all  the  Europeans 

233 


234 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


who  are  with  me  should  die,  and  though  I  were  myself 
half  dead,  I  would  still  persevere,  and  if  I  could  not 
succeed  in  the  object  of  my  journey,  I  would  at  least  die 
on  the  Niger.  If  I  succeed  in  the  object  of  my  journey, 
I  expect  to  be  in  England  in  the  month  of  May  or  June, 
by  way  of  the  ^\"est  Indies." 

On  the  19th  he  wrote  to  his  wife — 

"...  I  am  afraid  that,  impressed  with  a  woman's 
fears  and  the  anxieties  of  a  wife,  you  may  be  led  to  con- 
sider my  situation  as  a  great  deal  worse  than  it  is.  .  .  . 
The  rains  are  completely  over,  and  the  healthy  season 
has  commenced,  so  that  there  is  no  danger  of  sickness, 
and  I  have  still  a  sufficient  force  to  protect  me  from 
any  insult  in  sailing  down  the  river  to  the  sea. 

We  have  already  embarked  all  our  things,  and  shall 
sail  the  moment  I  have  finished  this  letter.  I  do  not 
intend  to  stop  nor  land  anywhere  till  we  reach  the  coast, 
which  I  suppose  will  be  some  time  in  the  end  of  January. 
...  I  think  it  not  unlikely  but  that  I  shall  be  in  Eng- 
land before  you  receive  this.  .  .  .  We  this  morning 
have  done  with  all  intercourse  with  the  natives.  The 
sails  are  now  being  hoisted  for  our  departure  to  the 
coast. " 

These  letters  are  full  of  brave  words,  yet  they  do  not 
express  one  iota  more  than  what  Park  was  capable  of. 
They  breathe  his  remarkable  personality  in  every  line. 
They  show  the  heroic  spirit  that  does  not  know  the  word 
impossible,  that  does  not  know  when  it  is  beaten — that 
having  once  set  itself  a  task,  is  incapable  of  turning 
back.  They  speak  eloquently  of  a  stubborn  resolution 
which  only  death  itself  can  render  powerless,  and  such  a 
resolution  as  the  world  has  rarely  seen. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  realise  the  position  of  our 


THE  LAST  OF  PARK. 


235 


hero  at  the  moment  when  he  prepared  to  embark  on  one 
of  the  most  perilous  and  uncertain  voyages  history  re- 
cords. In  some  aspects  it  deserves  to  rank  with  the 
voyage  of  Columbus  across  the  Atlantic.  The  bourne 
w^as  equally  uncertain,  the  distance  not  so  very  much 
less,  the  perils  quite  as  great.  It  might  even  be  said 
that  compared  with  that  of  Park,  the  enterprise  of 
Columbus  was  most  hopeful.  Columbus,  too,  had  always 
the  option  of  turning  back.  For  Park  there  was  no 
such  door  of  escape.  Success  or  death  was  his  only 
choice,  and  even  success  might  mean  captivity  or  worse, 
the  best  geographer  of  the  time  holding  that  the  Niger 
termination  was  not  in  the  ocean,  but  in  the  heart  of 
the  continent.  If  he  proved  right,  how  many  were 
the  chances  against  Park's  ever  finding  his  way  out 
again. 

It  is  to  be  remembered,  in  addition,  that  this  voyage 
of  from  2 GOO  to  3000  miles — supposing  the  Niger  to  be 
the  same  as  the  Congo — was  not  embarked  upon  in  the 
heyday  of  the  party's  hopes,  but  after  an  unparalleled 
series  of  misfortunes  and  a  frightful  tale  of  death. 

For  sole  means  of  carrying  out  this  wonderful  enter- 
prise Park  had  nothing  better  than  an  unwieldy  half- 
rotten  canoe,  and  a  crew  consisting  of  an  officer  wholly 
unsuited  to  the  work,  three  European  privates,  of  whom 
one  was  mad  and  the  others  sick,  and  lastly,  Amadi 
Fatuma,  the  guide,  and  three  slaves — nine  men  in  all. 

With  this  "  sufficient  force  to  protect  me  from  insult," 
the  canoe  had  to  be  navigated  without  a  pilot  for 
hundreds  of  miles  along  a  river  studded  at  parts  with 
dangerous  rocks,  and  everywhere  infested  by  equally 
dangerous  hippos — a  river  whose  banks  were  occupied 
for  much  of  the  way  by  fanatical  Moors  and  Tuaregs, 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


while  beyond  were  unknown  tribes  of  cannibal  savages 
and  other  bloodthirsty  natives. 

But  nothing  could  daunt  the  intrepid  explorer — 
nothing  make  him  waver  in  his  "fixed  resolution  to 
discover  the  termination  of  the  Niger  or  die  in  the 
attempt." 

Thus  spiritually  armed  and  inspired,  and  thus  mate- 
rially supported,  with  the  writing  of  his  last  words  to 
the  world,  the  sails  of  the  Joliha  were  unfurled  to  the 
wind,  and  like  Ulysses  of  old,  Park  pushed  off  from 
land  bent  on  some  work  of  noble  note.  And  though 
made  "weak  by  time  and  fate,"  still  "strong  in  will,  to 
strive,  to  seek,  to  find,  and  not  to  yield  "  till  death  itself 
should  close  his  toilsome  struggle,  or  Ocean  once  more 
happily  receive  him  on  its  broad  bosom,  and  bear  him 
to  the  "  Happy  Isles  "  and  the  blessed  guerdon  of  his 
accomplished  work. 

The  die  was  cast,  and  down  the  great  river  he  glided 
towards  the  untravelled  countries  of  the  east  and  south — 
towards  the  heart  of  savage  Africa,  and  the  deep  dark- 
ness of  the  Unexplored. 

His  journals  and  letters  in  the  hands  of  the  faithful 
Isaaco  safely  reached  the  coast  and  afterwards  Europe, 
thrilling  all  true-born  men  and  women  with  the  un- 
paralleled tale  of  travel  they  so  simply  yet  graphically 
unfolded.  All  waited  with  eager  impatience  for  the 
reappearance  of  the  hero.  Speculation  was  rife  as  to 
his  point  of  exit,  or  whether  he  would  ever  be  heard 
of  more. 

May  of  1806  passed  into  June  without  bringing 
further  news.  The  year  1806  gave  place  to  1807,  and 
then  fears  as  to  the  ultimate  fate  of  the  expedition 
began  to  find  expression.    To  strengthen  these,  rumours 


THE  LAST  OF  PAKK. 


237 


from  West  Africa  reached  home  that  native  traders 
from  the  interior  reported  a  disastrous  close  to  the 
enterprise.  With  each  succeeding  month  these  reports 
grew  in  number  and  consistency,  till  Government  could 
no  longer  ignore  them,  and  determined  -to  send  a  re- 
liable native  to  the  Niger  to  make  special  inquiries. 

For  this  task  Isaaco  was  engaged,  and  in  January 
1810  he  left  Senegal.  In  October  of  the  same  year  he 
reached  Sansandig,  where  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to 
find  Amadi  Fatuma,  the  guide  Park  had  taken  with 
him  down  the  Xiger. 

On  seeing  Isaaco,  Amadi  broke  into  tears  and  lamen- 
tations, crying  out,  "They  are  all  dead,  they  are  lost 
for  ever!"  His  story  was  soon  told.  The  substance 
of  it  was  as  follows  : — 

On  leaving  Sansandig,  Park,  in  pursuance  of  his 
plan  not  to  hold  communication  with  the  people  on 
land,  so  as  if  possible  to  avoid  attack  or  detention, 
pursued  his  course  down  the  middle  of  the  stream.  At 
Silla  another  slave  "was  added  to  the  party,  and  at 
Jenne  a  present  was  sent  to  the  head  man,  though  no 
landing  was  made  at  either  place. 

On  reaching  the  point  where  the  Niger  divides  to 
form  the  island  of  Jinbala,  they  were  attacked  by  three 
canoes  armed  with  pikes  and  bows  and  arrows,  which 
were  repulsed  by  force  on  the  failure  of  more  peaceful 
methods. 

At  a  place  called  Rakhara  a  similar  attempt  was 
made  to  stop  the  progress  of  the  Joliha,  and  a  third 
near  Timbuktu.  On  each  occasion  the  natives  were 
driven  back  with  the  loss  of  many  killed  and  wounded. 

On  passing  Timbuktu,  the  country  of  Gurma  and  the 
lands  of  the  Tuaregs  lay  before  them.    In  this  part  of 


238 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


the  river  a  determined  attempt  to  dispute  their  passage 
was  made  by  seven  canoes ;  but  the  natives  having  no 
guns,  were  easily  repulsed  by  the  crew  of  the  JoUba, 
which,  though  reduced  to  eight  in  number,  were  well 
supplied  with  muskets,  constantly  kept  ready  for  action. 
Here  another  soldier  died.  Further  on  the  Joliha  was 
attacked  by  sixty  canoes,  but  without  serious  result. 

If  the  guide  is  to  be  trusted,  Martyn  seems  to  have 
enjoyed  this  part  of  the  work  to  the  full — so  much  so, 
indeed,  that  once,  after  a  good  deal  of  bloodshed,  Amadi 
seized  the  Lieutenant's  hand  and  begged  him  to  desist, 
there  being  no  further  necessity  for  fighting.  So  enraged 
was  Martyn,  that  the  humane  interference  would  have 
cost  Amadi  his  life,  but  for  Park's  intervention. 

Some  distance  beyond  the  scene  of  this  battle  the 
Joliha  struck  on  the  rocks,  and  during  the  confusion 
which  ensued  a  hippo  nearly  completed  their  discom- 
fiture by  rushing  at  the  boat,  which  it  would  have 
destroyed  or  upset,  but  for  the  timely  firing  of  the 
men's  guns.  With  great  difiiculty  the  canoe  was  got  off 
without  having  suffered  any  material  damage. 

The  party  had  now  reached  the  centre  of  the  ancient 
empire  of  Songhay,  and  everything  was  going  as  well  as 
could  be  expected.  They  had  still  sufficient  provisions 
to  make  landing  unnecessary. 

At  a  place  called  Kaffo  three  more  canoes  had  to  be 
driven  back,  and  further  on  the  guide,  on  landing  to 
buy  some  milk,  was  seized  by  the  natives.  Park,  seeing 
this,  promptly  laid  hold  of  two  canoes  which  had  come 
alongside,  and  let  their  owners  understand  that  unless 
his  man  was  released  he  would  kill  them  all  and  carry 
off  their  canoes.  This  threat  had  the  required  result,  the 
guide  being  released^  and  amicable  relations  resumed. 


THE  LAST  OF  PARK. 


239 


Beyond  the  point  where  this  incident  happened,  the 
river  became  difficult  to  navigate.  It  was  broken  up 
by  islands  and  rocks  into  three  narrow  passages.  The 
place  is  probably  that  marked  in  Earth's  map,  some 
seventy  miles  south  of  Gargo,  the  former  capital  of  Song- 
hay.  The  first  passage  tried  was  found  to  be  guarded 
by  armed  men,  which,"  says  the  guide,  "caused  great 
uneasiness  to  us,  especially  to  me,  and  I  seriously  pro- 
mised never  to  pass  there  again  without  making  con- 
siderable charitable  donations  to  the  poor."  On  trying 
a  second  channel  the  party  was  not  molested. 

A  few  days  later  they  reached  the  Haussa  country,  pro- 
bably near  the  Gulbi-n-Gindi,  which  comes  from  Kebbi, 
the  western  of  the  then  independent  states.  Here,  accord- 
ing to  Amadi,  his  agreement  ended,  though,  according 
to  Park's  letters,  he  was  to  have  gone  as  far  as  Kashna. 
Before  separating  from  his  guide  Park  wrote  down  the 
names  of  the  necessaries  of  life  and  some  useful  phrases 
in  the  dialects  of  the  remaining  countries  through  which 
he  had  to  pass.  This  task  occupied  two  days,  during 
which  the  Joliha  remained  at  anchor,  but  without  landing 
any  of  her  crew. 

Though  thus  losing  his  interpreter,  and  adding  in 
consequence  to  the  dangers  of  the  voyage  by  having  no 
one  through  whom  to  communicate  when  necessary  with 
the  natives.  Park  had  every  reason  to  be  hopeful.  He 
had  now  sailed  over  a  thousand  miles  down  the  river 
without  any  serious  mishap,  though  the  way  had  lain 
through  the  country  of  the  Moors,  and  their  equally 
fanatical  co-religionists  the  Tuaregs.  Ahead  lay  the  land 
of  the  negroes,  among  whom,  all  things  considered,  he 
had  ever  found  a  kindly  welcome  and  hospitable  treat- 
ment.    Especially  encouraging  was  the  fact  that  the 


240  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Niger  was  flowing  due  south — consequently  towards  the 
Atlantic,  and  not  to  the  inland  swamps  of  Rennell's 
theories. 

There  was  therefore  no  great  reason  to  consider  the 
want  of  an  interpreter  as  an  important  drawback,  and 
consequently  no  attempt  was  made  to  induce  Amadi  to 
go  further  than  Yauri,  the  next  district  to  the  south  of 
the  Gulbi-n-Gindi.  Here  Amadi  went  ashore,  and  after 
exchanging  presents  on  the  part  of  Park  with  the  king, 
Al  Hadj,  or  the  "  Pilgrim,"  bought  more  provisions,  to 
enable  the  white  men  to  continue  their  way  without 
landing.  This,  though  probably  a  necessary  business, 
was  destined  to  prove  fatal  to  the  prospects  of  the 
expedition.  The  cupidity  of  the  natives  was  aroused  by 
the  wealth  which  the  strangers  were  believed  to  have 
with  them  —  a  sample  of  which  was  afforded  by  the 
presents  sent  to  the  king. 

Immediately  to  the  south  of  Yauri,  the  low,  flat  valley 
of  the  Niger  contracts  to  a  glen  or  gorge,  where  the  sub- 
tending sandstone  hills  pass  into  abrupt  and  precipitous 
masses  of  hard  metamoiphic  rock,  and  break  up  the 
channel  of  the  river  by  dangerous  rocks  and  islands 
occupied  by  villages.  Thus  narrowed  and  divided  the 
waters  of  the  river  sweep  onward  in  three  branches — one 
of  them  easy  to  navigate ;  the  others  difiicult  at  flood 
time,  and  almost  impossible  when  the  river  is  low. 

During  the  delay  at  Yauri  the  news  of  the  strangers' 
coming  either  spread  in  the  ordinary  way  to  Bussa,  or 
was  conveyed  by  special  messenger,  and  preparations 
were  made  to  stop  them. 

Unconscious  of  the  dangers  ahead,  Park  left  Yauri 
and  continued  his  way  south.  Having  no  one  acquainted 
with  the  river  in  his  canoe,  he  unluckily  struck  upon  the 


THE  LAST  OF  PARK. 


241 


worst  of  the  three  channels,  and  rushed  to  his  doom. 
Once  in  the  sweep  of  the  current  to  turn  back  was  im- 
possible. To  land  was  equally  out  of  the  question  even 
had  it  been  possible,  for  to  right  and  left  the  rocks  and 


islands  were  crowded  with  natives  in  war  array  bent 
on  stopping  the  intruders.  The  energy  and  attention 
of  the  handful  of  travellers  was  divided  between  the 
double  danger — the  rapids  and  rocks  around  and  ahead 


242 


MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


of  them,  and  the  weapons  hurtling  through  the  air. 
Two  of  the  slaves  were  speedily  killed ;  for  the  rest  there 
was  no  other  course  but  to  keep  onward,  alternately  firing 
and  paddling,  ever  hoping  to  make  good  their  escape. 
A  little  more  and  they  would  be  out  of  danger.  Before 
they  were  aware,  however,  the  Joliha  rushed  into  the 
grip  of  a  hidden  cleft  rock  and  there  stuck  fast.  With 
desperate  energy  each  man  seized  his  paddle,  and  mindful 
only  of  the  supreme  peril  of  the  moment,  plied  it  with  the 
strength  of  one  who  works  for  dear  life.  In  vain — the 
Joliha  would  not  yield  to  their  frantic  efforts.  With 
delighted  yells  the  natives  gathered  on  the  neighbouring 
rocks,  and  sure  of  their  prey,  plied  their  weapons  with 
renewed  zeal. 

The  last  resource  was  to  lighten  the  canoe,  and  every- 
thing of  w^eight  was  accordingly  thrown  into  the  river. 
That  too  proved  useless,  and  now  Park  and  his  little 
band  of  followers  knew  they  had  reached  the  culmi- 
nating point  of  their  misfortunes.  For  a  time  they 
fought  on  as  if  determined  to  sell  their  lives  dearly, 
but  at  length  desisted,  struck  with  the  futility  of  their 
efforts.  Their  goods  were  gone — their  number  was  re- 
duced to  four.  To  continue  fighting  was  only  further  to 
enrage  their  enemies.  What  were  the  feelings  of  the 
liero  at  this  supreme  moment  of  disaster — what  his  last 
determination,  who  shall  say  ? 

Amadi  tells  us  that  in  the  end  Park  took  hold  of  one 
white  man  and  Martyn  of  the  other,  and  thus  united  they 
all  four  jumped  into  the  river,  whether  to  die  together, 
or  with  the  intention  of  mutually  assisting  each  other, 
will  never  be  known.  The  latter  supposition  is  the 
more  probable,  for  with  Park  while  there  was  life  there 
was  hope.    In  any  case  the  result  was  the  same.  The 


THE  LAST  OF  PARK. 


243 


Niger  claimed  him  as  its  own,  and  since  to  unlock  its 
secrets  was  not  to  be  his,  what  more  fitting  for  him 
than  death  beneath  its  rushing  waters. 

Of  the  party  only  one  slave  remained  alive.  Of  the 
contents  of  the  canoe  the  sole  articles  left  were  a 
sword-belt,  which  the  King  of  Yauri  utilised  as  a 
horse-girth,  and  some  books,  one  of  which  has  reached 
England. 

The  guide  did  not  escape  scathless  any  more  than  the 
other  members  of  the  expedition.  Scarcely  had  he  taken 
leave  of  Park,  when  he  was  seized  and  loaded  with 
chains,  remaining  in  imprisonment  for  some  months. 
His  first  business  on  obtaining  his  freedom  was  to 
find  out  the  sole  survivor  of  the  expedition,  and  learn 
from  him  the  manner  of  its  leader's  death.  Having 
satisfied  himself  as  far  as  might  be  on  this  point,  he 
returned  home  to  Sansandig,  from  which  rumour  gradu- 
ally carried  his  sad  tale  to  the  coast,  and  resulted  in  the 
mission  of  Isaaco. 

To  obtain  the  sword-belt,  and  otherwise  substantiate 
Amadi's  story,  Isaaco  despatched  a  Fulah  to  Yauri. 
The  Fulah  succeeded  in  stealing  the  belt,  and  gathered 
confirmation  of  the  tale  of  disaster,  whereupon  Isaaco 
set  out  for  the  coast  with  the  melancholy  tidings  and 
solitary  relic. 

With  the  many  the  tragic  story  obtained  immediate 
credence.  A  few  there  were,  however,  who  refused  to 
give  up  hope,  though  that  hope  was  but  the  offspring  of 
their  love  and  ardent  wishes.  Among  these  was  Mrs. 
Park,  who  to  her  dying  day,  thirty  years  after  the 
above  events,  clung  to  the  belief  that  her  husband  was 
yet  alive,  and  would  some  day  be  found. 

The  Government,  not  unmindful  of  their  duty  to  the 


244 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


family  of  such  a  heroic  servant,  granted  Mrs.  Park  a 
small  pension,  which  she  continued  to  receive  till  her 
death  in  1840. 

Her  children  as  they  grew  up  speedily  showed  that 
they  inherited  much  of  the  spirit  of  their  father. 
Mungo,  the  eldest,  obtained  a  commission  in  the  Indian 
army.  But  he  had  not  his  father's  constitution,  and  he 
died  ten  days  after  landing  at  Bombay.  His  younger 
brother,  Archibald,  was  more  fortunate  in  the  same  field 
of  honour,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Colonel. 

But  it  was  the  second  son,  Thomas,  who  seemed  most 
largely  to  have  inherited  the  adventurous  nature  of  his 
father.  He,  like  his  mother,  never  lost  behef  in  the  idea 
that  his  father  was  somewhere  a  prisoner  in  the  heart 
of  Africa,  Thither,  in  the  ardent,  impulsive  days  of 
youth,  his  thoughts  perpetually  turned,  till  the  desire 
of  ascertaining  the  truth  possessed  him  as  strongly  as 
the  solution  of  the  mystery  of  the  Niger  had  formerly 
possessed  Park  himself.  But  by  this  time  the  Parks 
were  alone  in  their  belief,  and  unsupported,  the  im- 
petuous young  fellow  was  next  to  helpless.  In  secret, 
however,  he  continued  to  scheme  and  plan  all  the  more, 
ever  with  the  one  object  in  view. 

At  length  in  the  year  1827  he  embarked  on  board 
a  vessel  bound  for  the  South  Seas.  In  some  way  or 
other  he  contrived  to  leave  the  ship  and  reach  the  Gold 
Coast,  determined  now  to  carry  out  by  himself  his  long 
cherished  desire  to  discover  his  father's  fate. 

The  following  letter,  dated  Accra,  1827,  tells  all  we 
know  of  his  plans  : — 

*'My  dearest  Mother, — I  was  in  hopes  I  should 
have  been  back  before  you  were  aware  of  my  absence. 


THE  LAST  OF  PARK. 


245 


I  went  off — now  that  the  murder  is  out — entirely  from 
fear  of  hurting  your  feelings.  I  did  not  write  to  you 
lest  you  should  not  be  satisfied.  Depend  upon  it,  my 
dearest  mother,  I  shall  return  safe.  You  know  what  a 
curious  fellow  I  am,  therefore  don't  be  afraid  for  me. 
Besides,  it  was  my  duty — my  filial  duty — to  go,  and  I 
shall  yet  raise  the  name  of  Park.  You  ought  rather  to 
rejoice  that  I  took  it  into  my  head.  Give  my  kindest 
love  to  my  sister.  Tell  her  I  think  the  boat  would 
do  very  well  for  the  Niger.  I  shall  be  back  in  three 
yeai^  at  the  most — perhaps  in  one.  God  bless  you,  my 
dearest  mother,  and  believe  me  to  be,  your  most  affec- 
tionate and  dutiful  son,  Thomas  Park." 

Thereafter  an  ominous  silence  followed.  Like  the 
elder  Park,  the  hot-headed  young  fellow,  whom  we  can- 
not help  loving  for  his  folly — knowing  as  we  do  its 
mainspring — disappeared  from  sight  in  the  Dark  Con- 
tinent, whence  only  vague  rumours  ever  came  back, 
sorrow-laden,  telling  of  a  speedy  and  bloody  close  to 
his  wild  yet  heroic  mission. 

And  so  fatally  ended  the  connection  of  the  Park 
family  with  the  exploration  of  the  River  Niger,  and 
thus  closed  the  first  great  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
opening  up  of  Inner  Africa. 


B 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


THE  FULAH  REVOLUTION. 

Simultaneously  with  the  commencement  of  Park's 
work  of  exploration,  an  event  of  almost  equal  moment 
in  the  history  of  the  Niger  basin  had  begun  to  ger- 
minate. This  was  the  phenomenal  rise  to  a  position 
of  immense  political  and  religious  importance  of  the 
Fulahs — a  people  known  among  the  Haussa  as  Fillani, 
and  in  Bornu  as  Pillatah. 

As  Park  was  the  forerunner  of  Christian  enterprise, 
so  Othman  dan  Fodiyo,  a  simple  Fulah  Malaam  or 
teacher,  in  raising  the  banner  of  Islam,  marked  the 
revival  of  the  political  and  religious  spirit  of  Moham- 
medanism in  the  Central  and  Western  Sudan. 

We  have  seen  how  the  huge  empire  of  Songhay 
crumbled  into  pieces  before  the  musketeers  of  a  Moorish 
sultan — how  with  its  political  influence  went  its  civi- 
lising influence,  and  whole  kingdoms  and  provinces  fell 
back  into  the  old  idolatry  and  barbarism. 

Similarly  and  almost  contemporaneously,  Bornu, 
largely  though  not  so  entirely,  lost  its  old  military 
power  and  progressive  force.  The  Haussa  States,  left 
to  themselves,  showed  a  like  degenerative  tendency,  and 
largely  lapsed  into  the  old  heathen  ways. 

But  in  all  the  mass  of  idolatry  was  a  leaven  of 

quickening  influence,  which  prevented  it  from  becom- 

246 


THE  FULAH  REVOLUTION. 


247 


ing  altogether  dead  and  sodden.  From  Lake  Chad  to 
the  Atlantic  there  was  scattered  one  remarkable  race 
who  forgot  not  God,  neither  lapsed  into  the  abomina- 
tions of  the  infidel.  Though  without  political  status, 
and  holding  no  better  position  than  that  of  semi-serfs 
— being,  moreover,  spread  broadcast  in  small  groups  as 


GROUP  OP  FULAHS. 

shepherds — they  yet  had  in  them  a  bond  of  union  and  an 
inspiring  force  which  supported  them  in  all  their  trials, 
and  kept  them  from  racial  annihilation. 

That  race  was  the  Fulah,  and  their  bond  of  union  was 
the  religion  of  Islam. 

Where  they  came  from  is  unknown.  Everything  re- 
lating to  them  is  a  matter  of  conjecture,  though  in  the 


248 


MUNGO  PAKE  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Sudanese  chronicles  we  find  various  allusions  to  them 
extending  back  several  centuries. 

Their  well- chiselled  features,  straight  wiry  hair,  and 
copper-coloured  skin,  all  distinctly  mark  them  off  as  not 
African,  and  point  towards  the  East  as  the  cradle  of 
their  race.  Still  more,  their  well-developed  skulls  and 
high  intellectual  average  place  them  on  an  altogether 
higher  level  in  the  scale  of  humanity  than  any  of  the 
negro  or  Bantu  races  among  whom  they  settled. 

At  some  remote  period,  we  may  safely  conjecture,  they 
immigi^ated  from  the  East,  and  gradually  moved  west- 
ward— not  as  warrior-conquerors,  but  as  peace-loving 
shepherds,  whose  knowledge  of  cattle,  &c.,  made  them 
welcome  additions  to  every  country  they  reached.  No- 
madic in  habit,  and  depending  for  subsistence  on  their 
flocks  and  herds,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  settle  in 
large  numbers  in  any  one  place — the  country  being 
already  occupied  by  the  negro  inhabitants.  Accordingly 
it  was  ever  necessary  for  them  to  move  westward,  leaving 
behind  them  only  such  numbers  as  could  conveniently 
get  a  living. 

By  the  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  century  the  Fulahs  had 
reached  the  watersheds  of  the  Niger  and  the  Gambia, 
Here  the  migratory  tide  was  stopped  by  physical  and 
other  causes.  The  country  beyond  proved  to  be  less 
adapted  for  pastoral  piu^suits,  and  possibly  was  already 
thickly  populated. 

There  being  no  further  outlet  westward,  the  new- 
comers naturally  accumulated  as  does  the  dammed  back 
stream.  They  increased  in  numbers,  and  correspond- 
ingly in  power,  till  they  became  of  no  small  import- 
ance, and  founded  for  themselves  a  kingdom  which  has 
been  already  mentioned  under  the  name  of  Fulahdu. 


THE  FULAH  EEVOLUTION. 


249 


When  Islam  crossed  the  desert  and  found  its  way 
in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  into  the  Sudan,  the 
Fulahs  were  the  very  first  to  become  converts  to  the 
new  religion.  Their  temperament,  their  higher  intel- 
lectual development,  made  them  more  quickly  susceptible 
to  the  new  influences,  and  hence  it  was  that  while  as  yet 
the  great  mass  of  the  aborigines  were  still  infidel,  the 
Fulahs  with  one  voice  were  proclaiming  their  belief  in 
Allah  and  His  Prophet.  Persecution,  as  in  the  case 
of  other  religions,  had  only  the  result  of  burning  the 
tenets  of  Islam  deeper  into  their  souls,  causing  their 
faith  to  shine  with  a  clearer  and  more  spiritual  light 
to  the  edification  and  instruction  of  the  surrounding 
idolaters.  In  the  Western  Sudan,  where  they  enjoyed, 
or  came  to  enjoy,  an  independent  existence,  Islam  spread 
among  the  Fulahs  with  special  rapidity;  and  with  the 
fall  of  Songhay  and  the  crippling  of  the  influence  of 
Timbuktu,  they  became  the  chief  propagatoi's  of  Moham- 
medanism and  the  great  encouragers  of  learning  by 
means  of  mosques  and  schools  —  rarely  by  the  power 
of  fire  and  the  sword.  Not  only  did  they  and  their  co- 
religionists of  neighbouring  tribes,  the  Mandingoes  and 
the  Jolofs,  thus  spread  a  knowledge  of  the  One  God — 
they  at  the  same  time  did  an  equally  noble  work  in 
arraying  themselves  against  the  rapidly  advancing  flood 
of  gin  which  Christian  Europe  was  pouring  into  their 
country.  With  that  traflac  they  would  have  nothing  to 
do,  and  unlike  so  many  of  our  Christian  merchants,  no 
consideration  of  profit  would  tempt  them  to  a  compro- 
mise between  their  conscience  and  the  lust  for  gain. 

Meanwhile  the  Fulahs  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  interior 
had  much  to  do  to  hold  their  own  amonfj  their  Pagan 
masters.    Their  position  was  most  galling  to  a  race 


250 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


which  knew  themselves  infinitely  superior  to  those 
whom  they  were  obliged  to  own  as  masters — more  bitter 
still  that  they,  the  inheritors  of  the  promises,  should  be 
ruled  by  idolaters  and  men  whose  portion  was  Gehenna. 
Broken  up  as  they  were  into  little  groups  scattered 
over  an  enormous  area,  what  could  they  do  1  The  answer 
to  that  question  was  speedily  forthcoming.  They  had, 
as  we  have  shown,  the  necessary  bond  of  union  and  the 
inspiring  spiritual  force  to  make  them  fight  as  one  man 
for  a  common  end.  They  only  needed  the  leader  to 
utilise  this  force  and  bring  it  into  action.  Such  a  man 
is  never  wanting  when  the  times  demand  him,  and  he 
in  this  case  was  forthcoming  in  the  person  of  Othman, 
the  Imam  or  religious  sheik  of  the  Fulah  of  Gober,  the 
northern  of  the  Haussa  States. 

Under  the  influence  of  this  sheik  the  Fulah  of  that 
region  were  roused  to  a  state  of  religious  fervour  such 
as  they  had  never  known  before.  His  fiery  eloquence 
touched  their  excitable  and  imaginative  nature  as  he 
brought  home  to  them  the  shame  of  their  semi-enslaved 
position.  The  fires  of  discontent  were  thus  set  smoulder- 
ing, and  required  but  a  little  more  fanning  to  cause 
them  to  blaze  into  the  flames  of  rebellion. 

Meanwhile  their  Haussa  ruler,  Bawa,  was  not  blind 
to  the  dangerous  ferment  existing  among  them,  and 
fearing  the  results,  summoned  Othman  to  his  presence, 
and  severely  reprimanded  him.  This  was  safiicient  for 
the  proud  and  enthusiastic  "Believer."  He  left  Bawa's 
presence  only  to  raise  the  standard  of  revolt — the  sacred 
banner  of  Islam.  Tlie  effect  was  electric.  In  response 
to  his  summons  the  Fulah  at  once  gathered  around  him 
in  an  enthusiastic  army. 

But  they  were  mostly  shepherds — men  of  peace. 


THE  FULAH  KEVOLUTION. 


251 


unaccustomed  to  the  use  of  arms;  and  they  could 
not  be  at  once  transformed  into  successful  warriors. 
Consequently  at  first  they  met  with  discomfiture  and 
defeat  in  every  encounter.  Had  they  been  fighting  for 
themselves  the  movement  would  undoubtedly  have  col- 
lapsed at  the  first  rude  shock  of  arms.  But  happily  for 
them  they  had  a  higher  interest  at  heart.  They  fought 
for  God  and  His  Prophet,  whose  instruments  they  be- 
lieved themselves  to  be.  In  such  a  warfare  there  could 
be  no  doubt  in  their  minds  as  to  whose  would  ultimately 
be  the  victory.  With  ever-growing  zeal  they  returned 
to  the  charge,  stimulated  in  their  glorious  crusade  by 
their  leader  Othman's  religious  songs  and  fiery  words, 
which  told  them  that  theirs  was  a  cause  for  which  it 
was  much  to  live  and  fight,  but  even  more  to  die,  if  it 
should  be  God's  will. 

Thus  led  and  encouraged,  the  Fulah  grew  in  experi- 
ence of  battle  and  the  use  of  arms.  The  hordes  of 
shepherds  were  gradually  beaten  into  a  disciplined 
army  of  warriors,  and  from  defeat  rose  to  victor3\ 

Thus  it  was  that  Othman  and  his  ever-victorious 
army  burst  forth  from  Gober  on  their  irresistible  career, 
filling  the  wild  wastes  of  Central  African  heathendom 
with  their  cry  of  None  but  the  One  God,"  till  the 
whole  of  the  Western  and  Central  Sudan,  from  Lake 
Chad  to  the  Atlantic,  acknowledged  more  or  less  tem- 
porarily the  political  supremacy  of  the  Fulah.  Yet  it 
was  no  mere  temporal  power  that  Othman  and  his 
people  sought  to  establish — theirs  was  a  conquest  for 
God.  They  acted  but  as  His  agents.  Before  them 
fetishism  and  all  its  degrading  rites  disappeared.  No 
longer  did  the  natives  bow  down  to  stocks  and  stones, 
but  to  Allah,  the  One  God.    Once  more,  as  in  the 


252 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER 


palmy  days  of  Songhay  and  Bornu,  schools  and  mosques 
sprang  up  throughout  the  land,  and  the  Greatness,  the 
Compassionateness,  and  the  All-embracing  Mercy  of  the 
Ptuler  of  the  IJniverse  Tvere  taught  to  natives  released 
from  the  foul  blight  of  idolatry  in  its  worst  form. 

In  this  work  of  releasing  the  Faithful  from  their 
bondage  to  heathen  taskmasters,  and  bringing  new 
light  in  a  forcible  fashion  to  the  barbarous  and  breech- 
less  natives,  the  Fulah  did  not  stop  till  from  every 
village  of  the  Central  Sudan  there  was  heard  in  the  grey 
dawn  of  the  tropic  morning  the  stentorian  voice  of  the 
negro  Mueddin,  announcing  that  prayer  was  better  than 
sleep — bringing  from  out  the  faintly  illumined  houses  the 
devout  Moslems  to  humble  their  faces  in  the  dust,  and 
acknowledge  their  utter  faith  in  and  dependence  on 
Allah. 

Xo  less  thoroughly  was  the  material  welfare  of  the 
people  cared  for.  The  laws  of  the  Koran  were  in  his 
(Othman's)  time  strictly  put  in  force,  not  only  among 
the  Fillahtah  (Fulah),  but  the  negroes  and  the  Arabs  ; 
and  the  whole  country,  when  not  in  a  state  of  war,  was 
so  well  regulated,  that  it  was  a  common  saying  that  a 
woman  might  travel  with  a  casket  of  gold  upon  her  head 
from  one  end  of  the  Fillahtah  dominions  to  the  other." 
So  wrote  Clapperton  a  few  years  after  the  death  of 
Othman,  as  eye-witness  of  the  wonderful  revolution 
effected  by  the  Fulah. 

Unhappily  the  religious  fervour  of  the  remarkable 
leader  speedily  developed  into  religious  mania,  and  ended 
in  his  death  in  1817. 

On  the  death  of  Othman,  the  huge  empire  he  had 
raised  was  di\ided  between  his  sons  Bello  and  Abd 
Allahi,    To  the  former  was  given  Sokoto  and  all  the 


THE  FULAH  KEVOLUTION. 


253 


east  and  south,  while  to  the  latter  fell  the  western  pro- 
vinces along  the  Niger,  with  Gandu  as  capital.  The 
countries  to  the  west  of  the  Niger,  including  Mas- 
sina,  became  independent  under  Ahmed  Lebbo,  one  of 
Othman's  lieutenants,  who  conquered  that  region  im- 
mediately before  the  death  of  Othman. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


NEW  ENTERPRISES  AND  NEW  THEORIES. 

As  we  have  seen,  Park's  second  expedition  was  fruitful 
in  nothing  but  disaster,  and  the  legacy  of  experience 
that  helps  others  to  success. 

The  journal  Isaaco  brought  back  from  the  Niger  did 
not  add  anything  to  our  knowledge  of  the  river,  and  so 
little  did  Amadi  Fatuma's  narrative  supplement  it  as 
to  the  results  of  the  voyage  down  the  stream  to  Bussa, 
that  in  the  map  attached  to  the  published  journal  and 
biographical  notice  in  1816,  Park's  furthest  point  is 
placed  only  some  eighty  miles  to  the  E.S.E.  of  Timbuktu, 
instead  of  nearly  700  miles  in  a  straight  line  S.E. 

There  was  one  geographer,  however,  more  far-seeing 
than  the  others,  who,  though  at  the  time  unheeded,  struck 
upon  the  real  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  Niger's  ter- 
mination. This  was  M.  Pichard,  a  German,  who  pub- 
lished his  views  on  the  subject  in  the  "  Ephemerides 
Geographique "  as  far  back  as  1808.  These,  briefly 
stated,  were  as  follows.  The  Niger,  after  reaching 
Wangara,  takes  a  direction  towards  the  south,  and  being 
joined  by  other  rivers  from  that  part  of  Africa,  makes  a 
great  turn  thence  towards  the  south-west,  pursuing  its 
course  till  it  approaches  the  north-eastern  extremity  of  tlie 
Gulf  of  Guinea,  where  it  divides  and  discharges  itself  by 

different  channels  into  the  Atlantic,  after  having  formed 

254 


NEW  ENTERPRISES  AND  NEW  THEORIES.  255 


an  immense  delta,  of  Avhich  the  Rio  del  Key  constitutes 
the  eastern,  and  the  Rio  Formosa  or  Benin  the  western 
branch. 

Never  was  a  better  instance  of  a  mental  discovery  of 
a  geographical  fact.  Richard's  hypothesis  is  a  graphic 
description  of  the  actual  geography  of  the  middle  and 
lower  Niger.  This  of  course  was  not  to  be  recognised 
by  the  world,  before  whose  eyes  the  Kong  Mountains 
ever  loomed  up  as  an  impassable  barrier  running  across 
the  suggested  line  of  drainage.  Till  these  could  be 
removed,  turned  aside,  or  broken  up,  no  geographer 
was  prepared  to  allow  that  the  Niger  could  possibly 
discharge  itself  into  the  Gulf  of  Guinea. 

Mungo  Park  had  left  one  legacy  of  theory  behind 
him,  viz.,  that  the  Niger  and  the  Congo  were  one.  What 
was  known  of  his  last  voyage  in  nowise  helped  to  dis- 
abuse men  of  that  idea — on  the  contrary,  it  obtained 
more  widely  than  ever. 

To  set  at  rest  once  for  all  this  important  question,  the 
Government,  undeterred  by  the  disastrous  termination 
of  the  last  expedition,  determined  to  fit  out  another  on 
an  even  larger  scale,  and  in  spite  of  the  dire  fate  which 
had  befallen  Park  and  his  companions,  there  were  not 
wanting  plenty  of  ardent  spirits  to  risk  all  the  dangers 
of  a  similar  enterprise. 

To  ensure  success  the  expedition  was  divided  into  two 
parts — one  to  follow  Park's  route  more  or  less  closely 
and  descend  the  Niger;  the  other  to  ascend  the  Congo, 
haply  to  meet  half  way,  if  the  fates  were  propitious. 

Captain  Tuckey  was  the  leader  of  the  Congo  section ; 
and  along  with  him  went  a  botanist,  a  geologist,  a 
naturalist,  a  comparative  anatomist,  a  gentleman  volun- 
teer, and  fifty  of  a  crew. 


256 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


The  party  left  England  on  the  i6th  February  1816, 
and  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Congo  in  five  months  and 
a  half.  The  impression  they  received  on  entering  the 
river  was  one  of  disappointment,  the  river  appearing  as 
one  of  second  class  magnitude  instead  of  the  gigantic 
stream  they  had  been  taught  to  expect. 

In  vain,  too,  did  they  look  for  traces  of  the  great 
kingdoms  described  by  the  early  Portuguese  explorers, 
or  of  the  churches  and  cities  founded  by  the  Europeans 
in  the  early  days  of  Portuguese  national  and  Christian 
enterprise.  For  the  most  part  they  were  met  only  by 
the  dark  depths  of  malarious  mangrove  swamps,  and 
the  profound  stillness  and  impenetrable  vegetation  of 
the  tropical  forest,  though  here  and  there  in  the  clear- 
ings were  miserable  villages,  inhabited  by  idle,  good- 
humoured  natives,  with  a  decided  appetite  for  ardent 
spirits  —  seemingly  the  only  legacy  permanently  left 
behind  by  the  Europeans. 

Pushing  up  the  river,  they  at  length  reached  the  first 
cataracts  of  the  Congo,  which,  instead  of  proving  to  be 
another  Niagara,  seemed  to  their  jaundiced  eyes  "a 
comparative  brook  bubbling  over  its  stony  bed" — a 
description,  needless  to  say,  not  confirmed  by  subse- 
quent expeditions. 

Unable  to  proceed  further  in  their  boats,  Tuckey  and 
his  companions  continued  the  exploration  by  land,  and 
in  spite  of  the  extreme  difficulties  they  had  to  encounter 
in  cutting  their  way  through  pathless  forests  without  a 
guide,  they  surmounted  the  first  stretch  of  falls,  and 
reached  a  point  where  the  river  widened  and  presented 
no  difficulties  to  navigation.  Unhappily,  however,  the 
old  story  of  disease  commenced  Three  of  the  principal 
men  had  successively  to  return  to  the  ship ;  and  finally 


NEW  ENTEEPKISES  AND  NEW  THEORIES.  257 


Tuckey  and  liis  companion  Smith,  tlie  botanist,  aban- 
doned their  projects,  seeing  their  further  progress  hope- 
less in  face  of  so  many  difficulties  and  their  own  helpless 
condition  under  the  paralysing  influence  of  disease. 
They  reached  the  ship  to  find  their  three  companions 
dead.  Smith  was  the  next  victim.  Finally,  overcome 
by  depression  and  mental  anxiety,  Captain  Tuckey  died 
also.    How  many  sailors  succumbed  we  are  not  told. 

Meanwhile  no  better  luck  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  other 
section  of  the  expedition. 

On  the  14th  December,  this  party,  consisting  of  too 
men  and  200  animals,  under  the  command  of  Major 
Peddie,  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Nunez,  nearly 
midway  between  the  Gambia  and  Sierra  Leone.  Major 
Peddie's  intention  was  to  pass  across  the  narrow  part 
between  the  Ocean  and  the  Niger.  Hardly  had  he 
landed,  however,  before  the  fell  demon  of  disease,  which 
in  its  foul  lair  keeps  watch  and  ward  over  the  fair 
expanse  of  Inner  Africa,  laid  its  invisible  hand  upon 
him,  and  ere  the  march  was  begun  he  found  a  grave  in 
the  land  he  had  come  to  explore. 

Under  Captain  Campbell  the  expedition  experienced 
only  a  succession  of  disasters.  The  donkeys  rapidly 
perished  under  the  hands  of  men  unaccustomed  to  look 
after  them.  Food  was  only  to  be  obtained  with  the 
utmost  difficulty,  and  at  ruinous  prices. 

Arrived  near  the  frontiers  of  the  Fulah  country,  they 
were  detained  for  four  months  owing  to  the  suspicions 
entertained  towards  them  by  the  king  and  his  people. 

Everything  they  had  began  to  melt  away  at  an  alarm- 
ing rate.  Soon  not  a  beast  of  burden  was  left,  and  when, 
seeing  advance  hopeless,  they  turned  seawards,  their 
retreat  became  one  continued  story  of  plunder.  Kum- 


258 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


ner,  the  naturalist,  died  en  route,  and  Campbell  only 
reached  Kakunda  to  add  his  name  to  the  list  of  victims 
to  African  exploration.  The  final  stroke  was  given  to 
the  unlucky  fortunes  of  this  evidently  ill-conducted  enter- 
prise by  the  death  of  Lieutenant  Stoker,  a  young  naval 
officer  who  assumed  command,  and  was  about  to  make 
a  new  attempt  to  penetrate  the  country. 

Clearly  African  exploration  was  no  light  matter,  re- 
quiring the  making  of  wills  and  the  setting  of  earthly 
affairs  in  order  for  such  as  put  their  hand  to  the  work. 
Yet  strangely  enough  there  was  no  halting — no  dearth 
of  volunteers.  AVhen  one  died,  another  was  ready  to 
take  his  place. 

"  Each  stepping  where  his  comrade  stood 
The  instant  that  he  fell." 

In  this  spirit  Captain  Gray,  a  survivor  of  Peddie's 
party,  made  an  attempt  to  follow  Park's  track,  but  got 
no  further  than  Bondou,  from  which,  after  being  de- 
tained for  nearly  a  year,  he  managed  to  return  to  the 
coast. 

But  what  all  these  various  disastrous  attempts  were 
unable  to  achieve  was  meanwhile  being  once  more  accom- 
plished by  a  stay-at-home  geographer,  James  M'Queen. 
The  circumstances  under  which  he  was  attracted  to  the 
subject  are  in  harmony  with  the  romantic  character  of 
African  history.  A  copy  of  the  narrative  of  Park's  first 
expedition  found  its  way  into  the  hands  of  M'Queen 
while  resident  in  the  Island  of  Grenada,  West  Indies. 
Among  the  negroes  under  his  charge  were  several  Man- 
dingoes  from  the  banks  of  the  Niger.  One  Haussa 
negro  he  came  in  contact  with  had  actually  rowed  Park 
across  the  Niger. 

Already  imbued  with  pronounced  geographical  tastes, 


NEW  ENTEKPRISES  AND  NEW  THEORIES.  259 


McQueen's  imagination  was  at  once  taken  captive  by 
the  mystery  of  the  Great  River.  With  all  the  enthu- 
siasm of  an  ardent  temperament,  he  devoted  himself  to 
the  solution  of  the  question  as  thoroughly  as  Park  him- 
self, though  in  a  very  different  manner.  While,  one 
after  another,  explorers  toiled  and  struggled,  sickened 
and  died,  with  but  small  result  to  science,  he  set  about 
collecting  information  from  all  the  negroes  and  freemen  he 
met  who  had  come  from  or  even  set  foot  in  West  Africa. 
More  especially  did  he  study  all  the  available  materials 
supplied  by  Arabs  who  had  travelled  and  traded  in  the 
Sudan,  or  by  Europeans  and  natives  who,  bent  on  com- 
merce or  discovery,  had  penetrated  to  the  interior  from 
the  West  Coast. 

With  extraordinary  genius  and  industry,  and  admir- 
able clear-sightedness  and  judgment,  he  set  in  their 
true  light  and  pieced  together  the  various  items  thus 
collected  relating  to  the  course  of  the  Niger,  till  he 
succeeded  in  mapping  out  for  himself  the  broad  geo- 
graphical features  of  the  whole  region  through  which 
it  runs.  As  far  back  as  1816  the  first  sketch  of  his 
views  was  given  to  the  world  in  a  small  treatise,  in 
which  he  pointed  out,  as  had  Richard  before  him,  that 
the  Niger  certainly  entered  the  ocean  in  the  Bight  of 
Benin.  The  treatise  fell  unheeded,  however— at  least 
by  the  world  at  large ;  but  undiscouraged,  M 'Queen 
continued  his  researches  for  five  years  more,  and  in  182 1 
produced  a  book,  "  Containing  a  Particular  Account  of 
the  Course  and  Termination  of  the  Great  River  Niger 
in  the  Atlantic  Ocean." 

In  this  interesting  work  M 'Queen  reviews  all  the 
various  theories  respecting  the  Niger.  He  demolishes 
Rennell's  opinion  that  it  disappeared  in  some  central 


260 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


wastes  of  sand,  or  becomes  evaporated  in  a  series  of 
swamps  under  the  burning  heats  of  a  tropical  sun. 
The  view  that  it  flows  east  and  joins  the  Nile  met  a 
similar  fate  before  his  army  of  facts.  The  obstructing 
Kong  barrier  was  cleft  asunder  with  a  Titan's  strength, 
and  made  to  separate  instead  of  join  the  Congo  and 
the  Niger. 

But  the  writer  was  not  merely  destructive.  He  could 
build  as  well.  With  the  very  weapons  with  which  he 
pulled  down  the  theories  of  the  past,  he  set  about  con- 
structing a  theory  of  his  own.  Laying  together  fact 
upon  fact,  gathered  from  every  available  source,  he 
traced  the  course  of  the  Niger  in  a  southerly  direction. 
Bussa,  from  being  left  near  Timbuktu,  he  transported 
several  hundred  miles  further  south.  From  the  king- 
dom of  Bornu  and  adjacent  states  he  gathered  together 
the  various  drainage  streams,  and  ran  them  into  a 
common  channel — the  Gir  or  Nile  of  the  Sudan;  but 
instead  of  directing  it  to  the  true  Nile,  as  had  formerly 
been  the  case  when  it  was  believed  to  be  the  Niger 
itself,  he  gave  it  a  westerly  course  south  of  the  Haussa 
States  and  Nyffe  (Nup^)  to  its  junction  with  the  Kwora 
or  Main  Niger.  Here  the  Arab  writers  and  traders 
failed  him,  though  leaving  him  without  a  doubt  as  to  the 
ultimate  destination  of  the  Central  Sudanese  waters. 

For  the  termination,  however,  he  had  to  seek  infor- 
mation from  the  Atlantic  side.  Everything  pointed 
to  the  Bight  of  Benin  as  the  only  possible  place  of 
discharge  of  such  a  huge  river.  Here  was  found  an 
unknown  extent  of  low  flat  country  and  fetid  man- 
grove swamp,  pierced  by  many-branched  anastomosing 
creeks.  From  Calabar  to  Benin  canoes  could  pass  in  all 
directions  by  means  of  these  creeks,  and  it  was  known 


NEW  ENTERPRISES  AND  NEW  THEORIES.  261 


that  they  extended  far  into  the  interior.  Though 
subject  to  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide,  there  was  no 
question  as  to  the  volume  of  fresh  water  which  moved 
seaward,  bearing  floating  islands  on  its  discoloured 
floods. 

Supported  by  a  convincing  array  of  facts  such  as 
these,  M 'Queen  could  come  to  no  other  conclusion  but 
that  "in  the  Bights  of  Benin  and  Biafra,  therefore, 
is  the  great  outlet  of  the  Niger,  bearing  along  in  his 
majestic  stream  all  the  waters  of  Central  Africa  from 
io°  west  longitude  to  28°  east  longitude,  and  from  the 
Tropic  of  Cancer  to  the  shores  of  Benin." 

Never  was  a  piece  of  arm-chair  geography  worked  out 
more  admirably.  In  its  broad  outlines  it  was  perfectly 
correct.  To  M 'Queen  it  was  as  much  a  certainty  as  if 
he  had  actually  explored  and  mapped  it  on  the  spot. 

Imbued  with  this  faith,  he  proceeded  to  point  out  the 
importance  of  the  Niger  to  the  commerce  of  England 
and  the  future  of  Africa.  With  Fernando  Po  and  the 
Niger  in  the  hands  of  his  countrymen,  he  saw  Britain 
mistress  of  the  fate  of  the  continent.  Bussa  was  to  be 
the  inner  key  of  the  situation.  "Therefore,"  he  says, 
"  on  this  commanding  spot  let  the  British  standard  be 
firmly  planted,  and  no  power  on  earth  could  tear  it  up. 
.  .  .  Firmly  planted  in  Central  Africa,  the  British  flag 
would  become  the  rallying  point  of  all  that  is  honourable, 
useful,  beneficial,  just,  and  good.  Under  the  mighty 
shade  thereof  the  nations  would  seek  security,  comfort, 
and  repose.  Allies  Great  Britain  would  find  in  abundance. 
They  would  flock  to  her  settlement,  if  it  had  the  power 
and  the  means  to  protect  them.  The  resources  of  Africa, 
and  the  energies  of  Africa,  under  a  wise  and  vigorous 
policy,  may  be  made  to  subdue  and  control  Africa.  Let 

s 


262  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 

Britain  only  form  such  a  settlement,  and  give  it  that 
countenance,  support,  and  protection  which  the  wisdom 
and  energy  of  British  councils  can  give,  and  which  the 
power  and  resources  of  the  British  empire  can  so  well 
maintain,  and  Central  Africa  to  future  ages  will  remain 
a  grateful  and  obedient  dependency  of  this  empire.  The 
latter  will  become  the  centre  of  all  the  wealth,  and  the 
focus  of  all  the  industry,  of  the  former.  Thus  the  Niger, 
like  the  Ganges,  would  acknowledge  Great  Britain  as 
its  protector,  our  king  as  its  lord.  ...  A  city  built 
there  under  the  protecting  wings  of  Great  Britain,  and 
extended,  enriched,  and  embellished  by  the  industry, 
skill,  and  spirit  of  her  sons,  would  ere  long  become  the 
capital  of  Africa.  Fifty  milhons  of  people,  yea,  even  a 
greater  number,  would  be  dependent  on  it." 

These  are  brave  words,  truly,  about  what  after  all 
was  merely  a  "mental  discovery,"  and  taken  alone,  they 
might  only  evoke  a  smile,  if  we  did  not  know  that  they 
are  those  of  a  man  of  no  ordinary  genius  and  power  of 
insight.  Looking  back  seventy  years  after  he  wrote, 
we  can  see  how  truly  prophetic  he  was  in  most  that  he 
wrote,  and  that  he  was  no  more  the  blatant  patriot  than 
the  geographical  dreamer.  His  genius  for  looking  ahead 
was  as  great  as  for  looking  around.  Take,  for  instance, 
his  warning  of  the  danger  of  a  French  advance  from  the 
Senegal  to  the  Niger,  and  its  far-reaching  consequence, 
if  carried  out,  to  our  commercial  and  political  position 
in  West  Central  Africa,  He  it  was  who  foresaw  nearly 
seventy  years  before  its  accomplishment  the  necessity  of 
a  Chartered  Company  to  take  full  advantage  of  our  (then 
prospective)  position  on  the  Niger,  and  the  results  that 
would  ensue  without  such  a  method  of  developing  the 
resources  of  that  region.     Of  these  matters,  however. 


NEW  ENTERPRISES  AND  NEW  THEORIES. 


263 


we  shall  treat  in  their  proper  place.  Enough  for  the 
moment  if  we  show  how  thoroughly  M'Queen  had  made 
himself  master  of  the  geographical  problems  then  before 
the  public,  as  well  as  of  the  political  and  commercial 
situation  that  was  to  follow  the  opening  up  of  the  Xiger 
to  European  intercourse.  Only  now,  after  more  than 
half  a  century  of  gross  and  irreparable  mismanagement 
in  West  Africa,  we  are  waking  up  to  the  wisdom  of  his 
views,  and  striving  in  some  measure  to  carry  them  into 
effect. 


CHAPTER  XXYI. 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER. 

TJnhappily  for  the  stay-at-home  geographer,  no  matter 
how  skilfully  he  may  set  forth  the  discoveries  made  in 
his  study,  his  triumph  can  only  come  after  they  have 
been  demonstrated  by  actual  travel,  and  even  then  the 
credit  that  falls  to  his  share  is  small.  The  case  of 
M 'Queen  is  one  in  point.  We  have  no  evidence  that 
his  theory  regarding  the  Niger's  termination  made  any 
special  impression  upon  the  general  opinion  of  the 
time.  Unfortunately  for  him,  too,  his  views  were  pub- 
lished immediately  after  several  disastrous  attempts 
from  the  West  Coast  to  settle  the  question  he  had  so 
ably  worked  out,  so  that  Government  and  people  alike 
were  disposed  to  fight  shy  of  the  fatal  region. 

Yet  with  every  succeeding  failure  the  attraction  of 
the  mysterious  river  seemed  ever  to  become  greater, 
and  a  stubborn  determination  was  evinced  to  break 
through  the  deadly  belt  which  hedged  in  the  countries 
of  the  interior.  Conquered  and  rebuffed  in  one  direc- 
tion, there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  try  another,  and 
once  more  the  Arab  caravan  route  from  Tripoli  to  the 
Sudan  was  thought  of.  As  has  been  elsewhere  shown, 
attempts  in  this  direction  had  already  been  made  by 
other  travellers,  and  all  had  alike  failed.    Of  these 

Horneman  alone  had  penetrated  beyond  the  northern 

264 


(  Al'TAl  \  (  I.APJ'KliTOX. 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER.  265 


borderland  of  the  desert,  only,  however,  to  disappear 
for  ever.  In  every  other  case  these  expeditions  had 
failed  at  the  outset  through  fatal  fevers  and  Oriental 
obstructiveness — what,  then,  had  the  traveller  to  expect, 
who,  surmounting  these  initial  dangers,  found  himself 
face  to  face  with  the  terrors  of  the  great  Sahara,  where 
nature  in  its  fiercest  aspects  reigned  supreme,  and  man 
was  represented  only  by  wild  roving  tribes  savage  as 
their  environment. 

Nevertheless  men  there  were  ready  and  eager  to  try 
this  route,  as  had  been  others  before  them  to  brave 
the  dangers  of  the  West  Coast. 

In  1820  Britain  held  an  exceptionably  favourable 
position  in  the  councils  of  the  Court  of  Tripoli,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  Basha,  thanks  to  his  guns,  exercised 
a  very  marked  influence  over  all  the  Arab,  Berber,  and 
Tibbu  tribes  lying  between  his  country  and  the  far- 
distant  regions  of  the  Sudan.  Hence  any  one  starting 
under  the  protection  of  the  Basha  had  a  fair  guarantee 
of  success,  provided  he  could  withstand  the  possible  on- 
slaughts of  disease,  and  the  terrible  privations  incidental 
to  desert  marches. 

Encouraged  by  this  favourable  state  of  matters,  the 
British  Government  determined  to  make  another  attempt 
to  explore  by  the  Arab  route  the  regions  which  they  had 
so  signally  failed  to  reach  from  the  Atlantic. 

Lieutenant  Clapperton — like  Park,  a  Scottish  borderer 
— Dr.  Oudney,  and  Major  Denham,  were  selected  for  the 
task,  and  the  18th  November  182 1  saw  them  landed  in 
Tripoli.  Little  time  was  lost  in  making  their  prepara- 
tions and  in  setting  forth  for  Murzuk  in  Fezzan,  where 
they  were  to  make  their  final  arrangements  before 
plunging  into  the  dread  Sahara.    Here,  though  received 


266  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


kindly  enough  by  the  Sultan,  they  were  threatened  with 
the  system  of  Oriental  delays  which  had  proved  fatal  to 
previous  travellers.  This,  however,  they  were  not  the 
men  to  brook,  and  Major  Denham  promptly  returned 
to  Tripoli  to  lay  a  complaint  before  the  Basha.  As 
promptly  he  started  for  England  on  getting  nothing  but 
promises.  This  was  sufficient  to  throw  the  Basha  and 
his  Court  into  consternation,  and  vessel  after  vessel  was 
despatched  to  bring  back  the  indignant  traveller.  They 
succeeded  in  catching  him  up  at  Marseilles,  and  induced 
him  to  return.  On  his  arrival  in  Tripoli  he  was  in- 
formed that  already  his  escort  awaited  him  at  Sokna, 
on  the  borders  of  the  Tripolitan  desert. 

Murzuk  was  triumphantly  re-entered  on  the  30th 
October  1822.  Clapperton  and  Oudney  were  found 
much  reduced  by  the  fevers,  which  were  here  so  preva- 
lent that  even  amongst  the  natives  anything  like  a 
healthy-looking  person  was  a  rarity.  To  get  away 
from  this  dangerously  unhealthy  place,  Bu  Khalum, 
the  leader  of  the  caravan,  exerted  himself  with  most 
unoriental  and  praiseworthy  energy,  though  the  task 
of  gathering  together  the  various  elements  of  such  a 
company  as  his  was  no  small  matter. 

When  ready,  the  party  consisted  of  four  Europeans, 
and  servants  to  the  number  of  ten,  an  Arab  escort  of 
210,  gathered  from  the  most  obedient  tribes  under  the 
rule  of  Tripoli,  and  a  number  of  merchants  and  freed 
slaves,  who  brought  up  the  roll  to  about  300. 

It  was  the  29th  November  before  the  whole  party 
was  ready  for  the  road.  The  Europeans  were  in  no 
very  promising  plight.  They  were  all  more  or  less 
down  with  fever,  and  Oudney  and  Hillman,  a  carpenter, 
were  in  a  specially  hopeless  condition,  considering  what 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER.  267 


was  before  them.  Nevertheless  each  one  was  eager  and 
determined  to  go  on,  always  hoping  in  the  future,  as  is 
the  manner  of  enthusiasts. 

Almost  with  the  disappearance  of  the  walls,  mosques, 
and  date-trees  of  Murzuk  in  their  rear,  the  desert  rose 
up  grim  and  terrible  before  them.  The  second  day- 
saw  them  among  wild  wastes  of  burning  billowy  sands, 
where  was  seen  no  living  thing,  nor  other  sound  heard 
than  the  melancholy  sweep  of  the  wind  over  the  endless 
tracts  of  sand.  For  some  days,  however,  watering- 
places  were  not  unfrequent,  while  here  and  there  small 
oases  gave  a  temporary  relief  to  the  monotonous  land- 
scape, and  afforded  a  scanty  subsistence  to  Tibbu  or 
Berber  inhabitants,  who  preferred  to  face  the  terror 
of  the  wilderness  rather  than  live  under  the  harsh  rule 
of  Arab  masters.  With  the  continued  advance  south- 
ward the  wells  grew  more  scarce,  and  it  became  a  matter 
of  congratulation  when  the  day's  march  ended  beside 
one.  With  the  wells  went  the  date-trees  and  the  cul- 
tivated oases,  the  prowling  beast  and  the  wandering 
native — only  a  great  yellow  expanse  perpetually  unrolled 
its  vastness  and  monotony  beneath  the  brazen  canopy  of 
a  cloudless  sky. 

Into  this  realm  of  Desolation  and  Death  the  caravan 
now  passed,  their  route  marked  out  by  the  skeletons 
of  human  beings,  ominously  indicative  of  the  dangers 
ahead  and  the  horrors  of  the  slave  trade.  As  many 
as  107  such  skeletons  were  counted  by  the  wayside  in 
a  single  march,  and  100  were  found  around  one  well. 
At  some  places  the  numbers  were  beyond  calculation. 
For  days  together  now  there  was  nothing  but  desert — 
hummocky  mounds,  painful  stone-strewn  stretches  of 
barrenness,  and  shattered  ribs  of  rock,  grim,  gaunt. 


268 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


and  terrible.  The  wind  came  like  blasts  from  a  furnace, 
and  from  the  cloudless  sky  the  sun  poured  down  its 
burning  rays  in  a  painful  flood.  Under  the  influences 
of  heat,  thirst,  and  fatigue,  no  word  was  spoken — even 
the  camels  uttered  not  a  groan,  as  if  conscious  of  the 
dire  alternative  to  not  pushing  on.  At  times  the 
horses'  hoofs  crunched  through  the  bones  of  human 
beings  who  had  perished  on  the  march.  Night  only 
brought  relief  from  the  hardships  of  the  route.  Then 
came  the  clear  soothing  darkness  lit  by  a  myriad  stars, 
the  cool  refreshing  breezes,  and  the  soft  couch  of  sand, 
so  inexpressibly  welcome  to  the  weary,  parched,  and 
blinded  wayfarers. 

Thus  the  year  passed  away,  and  1823  was  ushered  in, 
bringing  promise  of  a  successful  issue  to  the  enterprise. 
The  explorers  had  now  reached  a  scantily  populated 
Tibbu  country,  where,  in  equal  danger  from  drought, 
famine,  sandstorms,  and  the  murderous  raids  and 
plundering  onslaughts  of  Berber  tribes  and  passing 
caravans,  men  somehow  contrived  to  wring  from  the 
flinty,  almost  arid,  bosom  of  mother  earth  the  where- 
withal to  keep  body  and  soul  together. 

On  leaving  Bilma,  the  chief  centre  of  this  district, 
another  desert  tract  had  to  be  crossed,  necessitating 
long  and  harassing  marches,  under  the  hardships  of 
which  as  many  as  twenty  camels  would  sink  down 
exhausted  in  a  single  day.  This  dread  region  was  at 
length  also  safely  traversed,  and  infinite  was  the  relief 
and  thankfulness  of  all  when  towards  the  end  of 
January  the  approach  to  more  fertile  tracts  was  in- 
dicated by  the  appearance  of  clumps  of  grass,  and 
further  on  of  a  few  scattered  and  stunted  trees.  This 
miserable  and  dingy  vegetation  looked  delightful  and 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER.  269 


refreshing  to  travellers  who  for  over  two  weary  months 
had  been  in  a  land  of  death  and  desolation.  Tibbu 
inhabitants,  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  reappeared  with 
the  vegetation,  and  fresh  meat  and  camel's  milk  were 
to  be  had  in  abundance. 

The  caravan  had  this  time  reached  no  mere  oasis. 
With  each  day's  march  south  the  country  improved  in 
appearance,  till  the  party  found  themselves  in  charming 
valleys  shaded  by  leafy  trees,  festooned  with  creeping 
vines  of  the  Colocynth,  while  underneath  the  sheltering 
canopy  the  ground  was  aglow  with  many-hued  and 
brilliantly-coloured  flowers.  Nor  was  there  lack  of 
animal  life  to  give  animation  and  variety  to  the  scene. 
Hundreds  of  twittering  birds  fluttered  from  tree  to 
tree,  careless  of  the  vultures  and  kites  which  grace- 
fully circled  far  up  in  the  heavens.  From  a  distance 
shy  gazelles  watched  the  newcomers  with  their  beautiful 
eyes  wide-stretched,  but  ready,  if  alarmed,  to  bound  away 
at  a  moment's  notice  to  their  forest  haunts.  The  very 
sky  reflected  the  softer  conditions  of  nature,  and  showed 
a  brighter  blue  cloud- speckled ;  and  the  natives  in  their 
smiling  faces  and  hospitality  harmonised  with  the  hap- 
pier conditions  under  which  they  lived,  though  from 
time  to  time  the  ruthless  acts  of  the  Arab  caravan  sent 
them  flying  in  terror. 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  fact  that  the  Sudan — 
the  country  known  by  hearsay  for  over  four  centuries, 
but  which  so  far  had  baffled  all  attempts  to  explore  it — 
had  at  last  been  reached.  On  the  4th  February  1823 
the  travellers'  eyes  were  greeted  with  a  sight  "so 
gratifying  and  inspiring  that  it  would  be  difficult  for 
language  to  convey  an  idea  of  its  force.  The  great 
lake  Chad,  glowing  with  the  golden  rays  of  the  sun 


270 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


in  its  strength,  appeared  within  a  mile  of  the  spot  on 
which  we  stood.  My  heart  bounded  within  me  at  the 
prospect,  for  I  believed  this  lake  to  be  the  key  to  the 
great  object  of  our  search  (presumably  the  Niger),  and 
I  could  not  refrain  from  silently  imploring  Heaven's 
continued  protection,  which  had  enabled  us  to  proceed 
so  far  in  health  and  strength  even  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  our  task." 

Nine  days  later  the  river  Yeou  was  discovered  flowing 
from  the  west.  The  name  given  to  it  by  the  Arabs 
unlocked  the  secrets  of  many  geographical  misconcep- 
tions. But  that  it  was  neither  the  true  Nile  nor  the 
Niger  was  soon  made  patent — for,  on  the  one  hand,  its 
course  ended  in  the  Chad ;  and,  on  the  other,  its  size, 
and  the  reports  of  the  natives,  made  it  clear  that  it 
drained  only  the  eastern  Haussa  States. 

February  17  was  a  momentous  date  in  the  history 
of  the  expedition,  for  on  that  day  they  reached  Kuka, 
the  capital  of  Bornu. 

Their  entry  was  made  in  great  state,  worthy  the 
traditions  of  a  powerful  semi-civilised  Sultan.  Several 
thousand  well  equipped  and  marvellously  caparisoned 
horsemen  awaited  the  strangers  outside  the  town,  and 
on  seeing  them,  charged  as  if  with  the  intention  of 
annihilating  the  little  band.  Suddenly,  while  at  full 
gallop,  they  pulled  up  right  in  the  faces  of  the  new- 
comers, almost  smothering  them  with  clouds  of  dust, 
and  putting  them  in  some  danger  from  the  crowding 
of  horses  and  clashing  of  spears. 

The  Sultan's  negroes,  as  they  were  called,  were  speci- 
ally conspicuous,  "  habited  in  coats  of  mail  composed  of 
iron  chain,  which  covered  them  from  the  throat  to  the 
knees,  dividing  behind  and  coming  on  each  side  of  the 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER.  271 


horse.  Some  of  them  had  helmets,  or  rather  skull  caps, 
of  the  same  metal,  with  china  pieces  all  sufficiently 
strong  to  ward  off  the  shock  of  a  spear.  Their  horses' 
heads  were  also  defended  by  plates  of  iron,  brass,  and 
silver." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  give  the  faintest  idea  of  the 
strange  sights  and  scenes  which  now  opened  up  before 
our  travellers  in  the  centre  of  the  ancient  empire  of 
Bornu.  Nothing  more  remarkable  had  ever  been  seen 
by  any  European  explorer — at  least  in  Africa.  From 
the  Sultan  and  his  much- robed  courtiers  down  to  the 
scantily-draped  country  people,  all  were  alike  interest- 
ing. The  teeming  life  in  all  its  varied  forms — Arab, 
Berber,  Fulah,  and  negro  of  twenty  different  tribes — 
made  up  a  picture  of  strange  attractiveness.  Not  less 
interesting  were  the  curious  customs,  the  industries,  the 
mixture  of  a  considerable  degree  of  civilisation  and  reli- 
gious elevation  with  the  lowest  depths  of  barbarism  and 
degrading  superstition.  These  were  the  more  marked, 
inasmuch  as  when  the  English  travellers  saw  Boinu 
and  its  remarkable  court,  it  was  just  re-emerging  from 
a  temporary  eclipse  of  its  national  glory.  Only  a  short 
time  before  it  had  thrown  off  the  temporary  domination 
of  the  Fulahs,  k)  whom  it  had  succumbed  in  their  first 
irresistible  onrush. 

The  reception  of  Clapperton  and  Denham  was  exceed- 
ingly promising,  and  a  bright  career  of  discovery  seem- 
ingly lay  open  to  them. 

Matters  assumed  a  worse  aspect,  however,  when  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  arose  among  the  Arabs  of  the 
caravan.  They  had  been  despatched  as  an  escort  to 
the  travellers,  it  is  true,  but  they  were  not  placed 
directly  under  their  command.    To  do  absolutely  nothing 


272  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


but  look  after  the  safety  of  the  Europeans  was  as  alien 
to  their  conception  of  duty  as  the  idea  of  travelling  all 
the  way  to  Bornu  without  turning  the  journey  to  profit- 
able account.  The  majority  of  them  not  being  mer- 
chants, and  therefore  not  supplied  with  goods  for  barter, 
had  only  their  weapons  to  depend  upon  to  recoup  them 
for  their  trouble.  A  slave  raid  was  therefore  determined 
on,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  and  remonstrances  of  Bu 
Khalum  and  the  Europeans.  As  the  Arabs  were  not 
to  be  turned  aside  from  their  project,  the  leader  reluc- 
tantly agreed  to  go  with  them,  and  Denham,  finding 
himself  helpless,  resolved  to  join  the  party  likewise  in 
order  to  extend  his  knowledge  of  the  region. 

The  mountains  of  Mandara,  to  the  south  of  Bornu,  were 
chosen  as  the  most  suitable  spot  for  a  slave  hunt,  and 
thither  the  raiders  proceeded,  accompanied  by  a  con- 
siderable contingent  of  the  Bornu  army. 

Leaving  Kuka  in  the  middle  of  April,  they  reached 
Mandara  towards  the  end  of  the  month,  without  any 
misadventure.  Here  they  found  themselves  surrounded 
with  mountain  scenery,  which  could  scarcely  be  ex- 
ceeded for  beauty  and  richness.  On  all  sides  inter- 
minable chains  of  hill  closed  in  the  view  in  rugged 
magnificence  and  picturesque  grandeur.  Here,  too, 
nature  revelled  in  its  most  luxuriant  forms  among 
giant  trees  almost  masked  under  the  wealth  of  creepers 
which  wound  around  the  trunks  and  branches,  or  hung 
in  graceful  festoons  swaying  responsive  to  the  passing 
breeze.  Native  villages  were  everywhere  to  be  seen 
perched  airily,  like  eagles'  nests,  far  up  on  the  rocks 
and  mountain  tops,  or  nestling  in  the  valleys,  hidden 
like  the  wild  deer's  lair  in  the  depths  of  the  forest. 
Such  was  the  lovely  district  into  which  the  Arabs  had 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER. 


273 


come  to  bring  death,  ruin,  and  slavery.  But  for  once 
they  had  miscalculated  their  powers,  or  depended  too 
much  on  the  co-operation  of  the  Bornu  contingent.  At 
the  first  attack  the  invaders  drove  the  natives  before 
them,  but  soon  they  were  outnumbered.  Bu  Khalum 
was  severely  wounded  along  with  the  leader  of  the 
Bornuese,  and  Denham  received  a  wound  in  the  face. 
Beaten  on  all  sides,  the  only  safety  of  the  survivors  lay 
in  flight. 

A  frightful  scene  ensued.  Denham  passed  through  a 
series  of  the  most  marvellous  escapes,  but  at  last,  un- 
horsed and  unarmed,  was  seized  and  stripped,  receiving 
several  wounds  from  spear  thrusts  in  the  process.  Seeing 
nothing  but  a  cruel  death  before  him,  he  resolved  to 
make  one  more  effort  to  escape,  and  putting  the  thought 
into  action,  he  slipped  below  a  horse,  and  started  for  the 
woods,  pursued  by  two  Fulah.  Beaching  the  shelter  of 
the  trees,  hope  revived  on  his  seeing  a  ravine  opening 
in  front  of  him,  and  offering  a  further  chance  of  life. 
As  he  was  on  the  point  of  letting  himself  down  the 
cliff  into  the  stream,  a  puff-adder  raised  its  head  to 
strike.  He  recoiled  horror-stricken,  and  fell  headlong 
into  the  ravine,  his  fall  fortunately  made  harmless  by  a 
deep  pool  of  water,  where,  recovering  his  presence  of 
mind,  three  strokes  of  his  arms  sent  him  to  the  opposite 
side,  and  placed  him  in  comparative  safety  among  the 
dense  vegetation. 

Shortly  after,  he  met  the  remnants  of  the  defeated 
party,  and  six  days  later  they  re-entered  Kuka,  after 
enduring  great  hardships. 

For  the  next  few  months  little  of  importance  was 
done  to  elucidate  the  geography  of  the  Chad  Region. 
An  expedition  westward  to  Manga  was  rccomplished  with 


274 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


less  disastrous  results  than  that  to  the  Mandara  moun- 
tains ;  and  then  the  rainy  season  set  in,  threatening  for 
a  time  to  end  the  days  of  the  European  travellers  by  the 
fevers  which  accompanied  it.  With  the  return  of  the 
dry  season  came  renewed  health  and  renewed  determi- 
nation to  add  further  to  their  discoveries. 

On  the  14th  December,  Clapperton  and  Oudney  set 
forth  to  visit  Kano  and  the  Haussa  States  in  the  com- 
pany of  a  trading  caravan. 

Two  days  later  a  Mr.  Toole  arrived  at  Kuka  with 
fresh  supplies  for  the  expedition,  at  a  moment  when 
they  were  much  needed. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1824  Denham  and  Toole 
started  for  the  district  of  Logim  with  the  object  of  visit- 
ing the  Shari  River.  The  project  was  safely  accom- 
plished, and  they  found  a  majestic  river  400  yards 
broad,  flowing  from  the  south  and  south-west  into  the 
Chad. 

The  difficulty  of  obtaining  correct  geographical  infor- 
mation from  the  natives  was  well  illustrated  in  their 
case,  it  being  clear  that  they  confounded  with  the  Shari 
a  great  river  (the  Benu^)  they  heard  of  as  flowing  from 
the  south  and  south-west  of  Mandara,  whereas  in  reality 
the  latter  flows  to  the  west.  It  is  extremely  probable, 
however,  that  some  sort  of  connection  exists  between 
them  in  the  wet  season. 

At  Logun  Mr.  Toole  died. 

Meanwhile  Clapperton  and  Oudney  were  travelling 
towards  Kano,  and  giving  shape  and  form  to  the  con- 
fused and  conflicting  accounts  over  which  geographers 
had  quarrelled  for  a  couple  of  centuries.  Unfortunately 
on  this  journey,  Oudney,  who  had  never  enjoyed  good 
health  from  the  day  he  left  Tripoli,  gradually  became 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER.  275 


worse,  and  died  on  the  i2tli  January  1824.  Left  to 
himself,  Clapperton  passed  on  to  Kano,  which  he  found 
to  be  a  town  of  30,000  to  40,000  inhabitants,  and  chiefly 
important  as  a  trading  and  industrial  centre,  it  being 
famed  as  such  from  the  most  remote  times. 

On  the  1 6th  of  March  he  reached  Sokoto,  the  capital 
of  the  new  Fulah  Empire,  and  there  was  hospitably 
received  by  Bello,  son  and  successor  of  the  founder. 
From  Sokoto  he  hoped  to  make  his  way  to  Yauri  and 
Nup6,  to  clear  up  as  far  as  possible  the  question  of  the 
course  of  the  Niger.  At  first  everything  looked  favour- 
able for  his  plans,  but  gradually  his  hopes  vanished,  as 
every  one  set  about  dissuading  him  from  attempting  the 
journey. 

At  last  the  Sultan  himself  withdrew  his  promise  of 
protection,  on  the  plea  of  excessive  danger  to  his  guest. 
In  the  face  of  such  a  decided  veto  it  was  useless  to 
attempt  to  proceed,  though  for  several  weary  weeks 
Clapperton  waited  on  in  the  hope  that  something  would 
turn  up  which  would  open  a  way  for  him.  No  change 
for  the  better  occurred,  however,  and  at  length  he  took 
leave  of  Sultan  Bello,  and  returned  to  Bornu. 

On  September  3rd  a  caravan  having  been  got  together, 
the  homeward  journey  was  commenced. 

In  the  course  of  the  next  four  months  the  Sahara 
was  safely  recrossed,  and  Tripoli  re-entered  on  the  26th 
January,  the  travellers  having  been  absent  nearly  three 
years  on  their  arduous  undertaking. 

This  must  be  considered  the  most  successful  African 
expedition  up  to  that  period — successful  alike  in  its 
scientific  results  and  in  the  extent  of  country  explored 
for  the  first  time.  Once  for  all  it  settled  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  direction  in  which  the  mouth  of  the 


276 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Niger  must  be  looked  for.  Certainly  it  neither  flowed 
east,  nor  did  it  end  in  any  known  desert  or  lake.  Yet 
curiously  enough,  to  judge  from  the  travellers'  maps, 
they  were  still  some  way  behind  M'QuQen  in  their 
knowledge  of  the  general  geography  of  the  great  eastern 
tributary  of  the  Niger.  Through  a  misimderstanding 
on  Clapperton's  part  as  to  the  direction  of  the  Benu6, 
the  Kiver  Shari  was  represented  as  draining  its  waters 
from  the  west  instead  of  from  the  south  and  east.  But 
perhaps  the  most  valuable  result  of  the  expedition  was, 
that  for  the  first  time  form  and  coherence  were  given 
to  the  geography  of  the  Arab  writers  and  traders,  and 
exact  information  collected  regarding  the  remarkable 
kingdoms  forming  the  Central  Sudan. 


CHAPTEK  XXVII. 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER— {Contijiued). 

Among  the  many  valuable  results  arising  from  Clap- 
perton  and  Denham's  expedition,  not  the  least  important 
was  the  great  encouragement  it  gave  to  renewed  enter- 
prise. With  the  successes  of  these  two  explorers  the 
tide  of  evil  fortune  seemed  to  have  turned,  and  they 
had  shown  that  death  or  failure  did  not  necessarily 
meet  whomsoever  had  the  temerity  to  seek  to  unlock 
the  secrets  of  Ethiopia. 

Clapperton,  moreover,  had  brought  back  with  him 
from  Sokoto  the  most  friendly  messages  from  Bello, 
the  Sultan,  expressive  of  his  desire  for  direct  inter- 
course with  the  British,  and  pointing  out  how  that 
intercourse  might  best  be  established  by  way  of  the 
Niger  and  the  West  Coast,  to  which,  he  asserted,  his 
dominions  extended.  To  take  advantage  of  this  more 
hopeful  state  of  affairs,  the  British  Government  organised 
another  expedition,  once  more  with  the  object  of  settling 
the  vexed  question  of  the  Niger  termination,  and  at  the 
same  time  opening  up  a  way  to  the  rich  provinces  of 
Sokoto,  Bornu,  &c. 

Clapperton  was  again  selected  as  leader,  and  with  him 
were  associated  Captain  Pearce  and  Surgeon  Morrison. 

The  Gulf  of  Benin  was  chosen  as  the  landing  point, 
the  reason  being  that  there  they  hoped  to  find  the 

T 


278 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


entrance  to  the  river  and  follow  it  to  Bussa.  On  tlieir 
arrival,  however,  it  was  deemed  advisable  not  to  lose 
time  and  health  among  the  interminable  creeks  and 
fatal  mangrove  swamps  known  to  distinguish  the  pro- 
bable delta  of  the  Niger.  It  was  known  that  Haussa 
caravans  were  in  the  habit  of  annually  descending 
overland  to  the  coast  at  Badagry,  a  point  a  few  miles 
to  the  west  of  what  is  now  known  as  Lagos.  With 
much  wisdom  and  common  sense  Clapperton  and  his 
companions  therefore  elected  to  penetrate  to  the  Niger 
by  this  route,  and  after  completing  their  business  witli 
Sokoto,  to  descend  the  river  in  canoes. 

On  the  7th  December  1825  the  party  left  the  coast.  ' 
Hardly,  however,  had  they  got  beyond  earshot  of  the 
Atlantic  rollers,  when  it  seemed  as  if  the  fate  which  had 
befallen  so  many  earlier  ventures  was  about  to  over- 
take Clapperton's  also.  Through  imprudently  sleep- 
ing in  the  open  air,  they  were  all  attacked  by  fever. 
Undismayed  and  unsubdued,  they  nevertheless  pushed 
on,  staggering  forward  as  best  they  might.  But  there 
were  limits  to  their  defiance  of  disease.  Morrison  gave 
in  first,  and  turning  to  retrace  his  way  to  the  coast,  died 
on  the  road.  Captain  Pearce  was  the  next  victim,  and 
he,  like  the  soldier  who  falls  in  battle  with  his  face 
to  the  foe,  dropped  on  the  road,  struggling  onward  to 
the  last. 

Tliough  now  deprived  of  both  his  friends,  Clapperton 
was  not  yet  absolutely  alone.  He  had  with  him  an 
English  servant  named  Richard  Lander,  who,  with  a 
spirit  worthy  of  such  a  master,  faced  all  the  perils  and 
hardships  of  the  route.  Happily,  however,  by  the  end 
of  the  month  the  deadly  coast  belt  was  safely  passed, 
and  healthier  lands  lay  before  them.    They  entered  the 


THE  TEEMIXATIOX  OF  THE  NIGER.  279 


populous  country  of  Yoruba,  with  its  teeming  population, 
its  well  cultivated  fields,  enormous  towns,  and  general 
air  of  prosperity.  Through  Yoruba  they  passed  in  a 
semi-triumphal  procession,  with  no  greater  trouble  to 
face  than  the  anxiety  of  the  king  to  keep  the  white 
men  in  his  own  capital,  or  the  siren  wiles  of  the  widow 
Zuma,  who,  with  her  colossal  charms,  sought  to  woo 
them  from  the  path  of  danger  and  toil  to  the  flower- 
strewn  haunts  of  love  and  ease.  Heedless  alike,  how- 
ever, of  kingly  favours  and  full-fed  charms — the  widow 
being  fat  and  twenty — Clapperton  held  on  his  way,  as 
also  did  Lander,  who  was  as  little  to  be  seduced  from 
his  master's  side  as  his  master  from  the  path  of  duty. 

Clapperton  had  hoped  to  reach  the  Niger  at  Nupe, 
but  news  of  war  and  bloodshed  in  that  region  caused 
him  to  deviate  from  his  intended  route  and  strike  the 
great  river  somewhat  higher  up.  As  the  fates  would 
have  it,  he  reached  the  Niger  at  the  very  point  where 
Park  had  ended  at  once  his  voyage  and  his  career. 
Clapperton's  reception  seemed  to  belie  the  story  of  Amadi 
Fatuma  as  to  the  manner  of  Park's  death,  but  a  little 
investigation  proved  beyond  a  doubt  the  truth  of  its 
chief  particulars.  The  natives  had  attacked  him  under 
a  misconception  as  to  his  nationality,  and  every  one 
spoke  with  regret  of  the  unhappy  catastrophe.  The 
place  was  pointed  out  where  the  boat  and  crew  were 
lost. 

At  this  point  the  river  is  divided  into  three  channels, 
none  more  than  twenty  yards  broad  when  the  water  is 
low.  The  left  branch  is  the  only  safe  one  for  canoes, 
the  other  two  being  broken  up  by  rocks  into  dangerous 
whirlpools  and  rapids.  Bussa  itself  stands  on  an  island 
about  three  miles  long  by  one  and  a  half  broad. 


280  MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


From  Bussa,  Clapperton  passed  through  Nupe  and 
across  the  Haussa  States  to  Kano.  Thence  he  pro- 
ceeded to  join  Bello  at  Sokoto.  He  arrived,  however, 
at  an  unfortunate  time.  Civil  war  and  rebellion  were 
rife  on  all  hands,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  great  Fulah 
Empire  was  about  to  fall  to  pieces  as  quickly  as  it  had 
been  built  up.  Bello,  in  consequence,  was  in  a  fit  state 
to  listen  to  all  sorts  of  insinuations  as  to  the  causes 
which  brought  the  Europeans  into  his  country,  and  the 
results  that  were  likely  to  follow.  Accordingly,  Clap- 
perton's  reception  was  anything  but  friendly,  and  under 
the  worries  consequent  on  his  treatment,  and  the  fevers 
by  which  he  was  attacked,  he  at  length  succumbed  on 
the  13th  April  1827. 

Of  the  members  of  the  expedition  there  now  remained 
only  Richard  Lander,  who  had  attached  himself  to  Clap- 
perton with  such  remarkable  fidelity.  Three  courses 
were  open  to  him — to  return  to  England  by  way  of  the 
desert  and  Tripoli,  to  go  back  by  the  way  he  had  come, 
or  thirdly,  to  attempt  to  carry  out  his  late  master's 
intention  of  tracing  the  Niger  to  its  mouth.  Lander 
was  a  man  of  no  ordinary  intelligence  and  character, 
notwithstanding  his  subordinate  position  in  life,  and  as 
if  Clapperton's  mantle  had  fallen  on  him,  he  elected  to 
do  what  he  could  to  complete  the  unfinished  work. 

With  this  object  in  view  he  returned  to  Kano  from 
Sokoto,  and  thence  started  south  to  reach  the  Niger, 
being  under  the  belief  that  the  great  river  in  that  direc- 
tion was  the  object  of  his  search — while  in  reality  it  was 
another. 

In  this,  however,  he  failed.  He  had  almost  reached 
the  great  town  of  Yakoba,  when  his  progress  was 
stopped,  and  he  was  compelled  to  return  to  Kano. 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER. 


281 


Thence  he  made  his  way  back  as  he  had  come  through 
Yoruba  to  Badagry,  which  he  reached  on  the  21st 
November  1827. 

The  unhappy  issue  of  Clapperton's  second  expedition 
somewhat  chilled  African  enterprise  for  the  time  being. 
Our  knowledge  of  the  course  and  termination  of  tke 
Niger  was  left  exactly  where  it  had  been  before — though 
it  was  made  more  and  more  clear  that  from  Bussa  it 
flowed  south  to  Benin.  Still  the  river  seemed  to  lie 
under  some  charm  fatal  to  whomsoever  should  brave  it 
and  seek  to  lift  the  veil. 

The  Government  began  to  lose  hope,  or  to  conclude  that 
the  deadly  nature  of  the  climate  rendered  the  discovery 
of  the  mouth  of  the  Niger  one  only  of  geographical  im- 
portance. But  though  they  wavered  and  felt  disposed 
to  give  up  the  task,  there  were  still  plenty  of  volunteers 
eager  to  make  one  more  attempt. 

No  matter  what  the  dangers  were,  Africa  had  a  strange 
power  of  fascination  which  irresistibly  drew  men  under 
its  influence ;  not  those  merely  who  had  never  set  foot 
on  its  deadly  shore,  and  who  consequently  could  not  fully 
realise  all  that  travel  in  Africa  meant,  but  men  who  had 
seen  their  companions  die  beside  them  on  the  road, 
struck  down  by  disease  or  the  weapon  of  the  savage, 
and  who  had  themselves  known  what  it  was  to  be  at 
death's  door.  It  is  a  species  of  mesmeric  influence  this 
of  African  travel,  irresistibly  compelling  him  who  has 
once  come  beneath  its  spell  to  return  again  and  again, 
even  though  at  last  it  be  to  his  death. 

Lander  was  no  exception  to  the  rule.  He  went  out 
to  Africa  knowing  nothing,  and  probably  caring  less,  for 
the  objects  of  his  master's  expedition.  But  he  was  of 
the  right  sort  to  come  beneath  the  fatal  charm ;  and 


282 


MUNGO  PAKE  AND  THE  NIGER. 


with  the  death  of  his  master  he  felt  himself  consecrated 
to  the  work  of  exploration.  In  this  spirit  he  returned 
to  England  with  Clapperton's  journal,  only  to  offer  him- 
self for  one  more  effort  to  complete  the  task  the  death 
of  the  writer  had  left  unfinished.  Such  an  offer  the 
Government  could  not  very  well  refuse,  though  the 
terms  promised  by  them  showed  that  they  had  but 
little  faith  in  a  favourable  outcome. 


KICHAKI>  LANDER. 

But  Lander  was  no  longer  the  servant.  African 
travel  had  ennobled  him  and  placed  him  in  the  roll  of 
her  knight-errantry.  He  knew  no  sordid  motives,  asked 
no  pay  or  other  remuneration.  Success  should  be  his 
only  reward.  His  enthusiasm  infected  his  brother  John 
with  a  like  spirit,  and  caused  him  to  throw  in  his  fortunes 
with  him. 


THE  TERMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER.  283 


The  22nd  March  1830  saw  the  gallant  fellows  landed 
at  Badagry.  They  followed  practically  the  same  route 
as  Clapperton's  expedition  to  Eyeo,  from  which  they 
were  compelled  to  take  a  circuitous  northerly  course  to 
the  Niger  at  Bussa,  which  they  reached  in  three  months 
from  the  coast. 

After  having  paid  a  visit  to  the  King  of  Yauri  some 
distance  up  the  river,  preparations  were  commenced  for 
the  voyage  down  to  the  ocean.  With  difficulty  two 
canoes  were  obtained,  but  at  length,  on  the  20th  Sep- 
tember, everything  was  ready  for  departure.  Before 
pushing  clear  of  the  land,  the  Landers  humbly  thanked 
the  Almighty  for  past  deliverances,  and  ferv  ently  prayed 
that  He  would  always  be  with  us  and  crown  our  enter- 
prise with  success."  Having  thus  placed  themselves 
under  Divine  protection,  the  word  was  given  to  push 
off,  and  away  the  canoes  glided  towards  their  uncertain 
bourne. 

The  first  part  of  the  voyage  lay  through  a  narrow 
valley  bounded  by  metamorphic  hills,  through  which  the 
river  wound  its  way  in  broad  curving  reaches,  broken 
up  at  times  by  inhabited  islands,  which  rose  precipi- 
tously from  the  dark  waters,  and  gave  variety  to  the 
scene.  Majestic  trees  lined  the  banks,  and  lent  their 
own  peculiar  charm  to  the  panoramic  landscape,  while 
village  and  cultivated  field  spoke  of  industrious  inhabi- 
tants. From  the  latter  they  had  nothing  to  fear — on 
the  contrary,  the  travellers  were  everywhere  received 
hospitably,  and  sent  on  their  way  with  prayers  for 
their  safety  and  food  for  their  wants.  A  more  instant 
danger  lay  in  the  numerous  rocks  which  thrust  their 
crests  above  the  water,  or  more  treacherously  lay  hid 
beneath,  requiring  constant  watchfulness. 


284 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Soon  this  rocky  section  was  passed,  and  the  district 
of  Nupe  entered. 

Here  the  river,  emerging  from  the  metamorphic  hills, 
turns  eastward  and  widens,  flowing  through  a  broad 
valley  whose  precipitous  sides  form  the  escarpments  of 
a  low  sandstone  plateau-land.  This  section  is  scantily 
inhabited  and  sparsely  wooded,  on  account  of  the  fact 
that  while  the  river  is  in  flood,  the  great  plains  which 
form  the  bottom  of  the  valley  are  submerged,  and  the 
river  assumes  the  aspect  of  a  lake. 

Sixty  miles  further  down  is  a  picturesque  range  of 
mountains — now  called  Rennell's — shortly  after  passing 
which  comes  the  town  of  Eofcja.  From  thence  the 
broad  valley  begins  to  narrow,  and  the  river  to  wind 
in  sharp  curves  through  the  low  sandstone  gorges,  till, 
turning  sharply  to  the  south,  it  enters  a  lake-like  ex- 
panse, where  the  Landers  found  that  a  large  tributary 
from  the  east,  which  they  conjectured  to  be  the  Tchadda 
or  Benue,  joined  the  main  stream.  This  was  the  river 
which  Clapperton  had  confounded  with  the  Shari, 
though  M'Queen  had  worked  out  its  true  relationship 
to  the  Niger  system. 

Immediately  beyond  the  point  of  junction,  the  Niger 
leaves  the  sandstone  plateau  and  passes  through  a  series 
of  bold  picturesque  mountains  by  a  narrow  gorge,  guarded 
on  either  side  by  isolated  peaks  and  table-topped  moun- 
tains, which  frown  over  the  waters  in  defiant,  barren  rug- 
gedness.  As  if  to  stop  all  ingress  or  egress,  small  islands 
and  hidden  rocks  rise  in  mid-stream,  round  which  the  swift 
currents  of  the  contracted  river  angrily  sweep  and  swirl. 

This  natural  gateway  passed,  the  river  expands  again 
into  majestic  reaches,  sunning  its  full  bosom  under  the 
tropic  sun,  unbroken  by  rock  or  island.    The  mountains 


THE  TEEMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER.  285 


fall  into  gentle  undulations,  and  these  again  into  a 
limitless,  flat  expanse,  but  little  raised  above  the  level 
of  the  river.  With  every  mile  the  vegetation  gi-ows 
more  and  more  luxuriant,  more  and  more  prodigal,  till 
the  primeval  forest  lies  before  the  traveller  in  all  its 
height  and  depth  and  solemnity.  Never  before  had  the 
brothers  Lander  seen  such  trees,  such  a  profusion  of 
shrubs,  such  a  tangle  of  varied  creepers. 

Here  and  there  villages,  charmingly  adorned  with  nod- 
ding palms,  peeped  cosily  from  their  bosky  corners  in  the 
dark  protecting  forest.  Near  the  houses  stood  or  lolled 
groups  of  scantily  clothed  natives,  passing  the  lazy 
hours  away  in  dreamy  idleness,  as  became  the  lords  of 
creation.  Children,  naked  as  the  day  they  were  born, 
gambolled  in  the  river  like  frogs ;  and  women,  ever 
at  work,  busied  themselves  with  domestic  cares.  At 
some  places  battle  had  been  given  to  the  rank  luxuri- 
ance of  nature,  and  small  clearings  made  in  the  forest 
for  the  raising  of  yams,  beans,  or  sugar-canes. 

Not  least  inviting  in  the  scene  was  the  Niger  itself. 
Now  it  spread  before  the  voyagers  like  a  beautiful  lake, 
ringed  with  fringing  festooned  trees,  and  flashing  bril- 
liantly under  the  rays  of  the  tropic  sun.  Again,  far 
ahead,  the  forest  frame  opened  and  displayed  the  serpen- 
tine course  of  the  silvery  river,  edged  with  yellow  banks  of 
sand.  Canoes  were  seen  gliding  swiftly  down  stream, 
or  with  more  laborious  paddling  were  forced  upward 
against  the  current.  On  the  banks  left  by  the  falling 
waters,  crocodiles  disposed  their  repulsive  length  like 
rotting  logs  of  wood,  while  in  the  deeper  pools  the 
hippos  snorted  defiance.  Waterfowl  in  great  numbers 
skimmed  along  the  surface  of  the  water,  fished  in  the 
shallows,  or  rested  on  terra  Jinna. 


286 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


The  scene  was  arcadian  and  fascinating  seen  from  the 
river.  A  closer  acquaintance  did  not  enhance  its  attrac- 
tiveness. The  voyagers  were  now  among  a  people  far 
different  from  those  above  the  confluence  of  the  Niger 
and  the  Benue  (Tchadda).  Here  were  only  Pagan 
savages,  steeped  in  the  lowest  barbarism,  and  ruled  by 
the  grossest  superstition.  Murder  and  plunder  were  in 
congenial  union  with  fetishism  and  cannibalism,  and 
hospitality  was  unknown.  Only  by  force  could  Lander 
get  his  men  to  venture  into  this  dangerous  region. 
That  their  fears  were  not  mere  fancies  was  speedily 
proved  on  the  very  first  occasion  of  landing,  and  again 
later  on  they  only  escaped  utter  destruction,  to  fall  into 
semi-captivity  to  a  party  of  men  in  large  canoes  who 
were  up  river  ready  to  trade  with  the  strong,  and  to 
attack  and  plunder  the  weak. 

The  travellers  now  found  themselves  among  people 
who  came  from  near  the  sea,  and  who  had  not  only  heard 
of,  but  had  actually  traded  with  Europeans.  It  was 
therefore  in  no  despondent  mood  that  they  submitted 
to  their  fate,  and  proceeded  on  their  way,  the  captives 
of  the  Ibo. 

Soon  it  was  clear  that  the  delta  of  the  river  had  been 
reached.  From  being  a  united  volume  of  water  it  began 
to  break  up  into  numerous  branches,  running  in  all 
directions.  At  the  apex  of  the  delta  the  land  was  dry, 
and  clad  with  palm  oil  groves  and  silk  cotton  trees. 
Gradually,  however,  these  disappeared,  and  as  the  dry 
land  gave  place  to  hybrid  swamp,  the  mangrove  asserted 
its  ownership.  Nature  then  showed  as  repulsive  an 
aspect  as  is  to  be  met  with  in  any  other  region  on  the 
face  of  the  globe — what  was  swamp  when  the  tide  was 
out  resembling  a  submerged  forest  when  the  tide  was 


THE  TEKMINATION  OF  THE  NIGER. 


287 


in,  and  both  then  and  at  all  other  times,  reeking  with 
pestilential  vapours  from  the  slimy  mud  oozing  from 
between  the  octopus-like  roots  of  the  mangrove. 

In  passing  through  this  foul  region  the  travellers  had 
little  reason  to  wonder  that  no  one  had  ever  ventured 
to  explore  the  labyrinthine  creeks  and  river  branches 
which  penetrated  the  mangrove  in  all  directions,  but 
seemed  to  lead  to  nowhere  in  particular. 

On  the  24th  November  1830  the  dull  thunder  of  the 
Atlantic  rollers  breaking  on  the  shore  came  like  sweetest 
music  to  the  travellers'  ears,  growling  a  gruff  but  hearty 
welcome,  and  soon  the  sea  itself  lay  before  them — its 
cool  healthy  breezes  fanning  them  with  delicious  touch, 
its  gleaming  limitless  expanse  fair  as  a  glimpse  of 
heaven. 

The  Niger  mystery  was  solved  at  last,  and  the  river 
portals  thrown  wide  open  to  the  world,  never  again  to 
be  closed. 


CHAPTER  XXVTII. 


FILLING  UP  THE  DETAILS. 

While  Clapperton  and  Lander  were  thus  bringing  the 
work  of  Park  to  a  successful  conclusion,  and  proving 
the  accuracy  of  M'Queen's  geography  of  the  Niger  basin, 
there  were  others  at  work  in  the  region  which  the 
labours  and  death  of  their  great  pioneer  had  made 
classic  ground.  Major  Laing,  in  the  course  of  a  Govern- 
ment mission,  had  travelled  from  Sierra  Leone  to  Falaba, 
in  the  country  of  Sulima,  and  ascertained  that  the  Niger 
took  its  rise  in  the  Highlands  of  Kurauka,  some  70 
miles  south-west  of  Falaba,  and  not  more  than  150 
miles  east  of  Sierra  Leone.  The  river  itself  he  was  pre- 
vented from  reaching,  but  none  the  less  did  he  come 
under  the  irresistible  influence  of  its  fascination. 

More  than  ever  had  Timbuktu  and  the  Niger  become 
names  to  conjure  with,  ^as  well  as  to  infect  men  with  a 
species  of  reckless  self-sacrifice  that  no  amount  of  past 
experience,  prudence,  or  common  sense  could  dispel.  As 
in  the  case  of  Lander,  and  others  of  his  predecessors, 
having  once  tasted  the  bitter-sweet  of  African  explora- 
tion, there  could  be  no  rest  for  Major  Laing  until  he 
had  gathered  again  the  magic  fruit.  Accordingly,  after 
an  interval  of  three  years,  he  once  more  set  forth,  deter- 
mined to  carry  his  cherished  dreams  into  realisation. 

Timbuktu  and  the  Upper  Niger  were  the  goals  of  his 

288 


FILLING  UP  THE  DETAILS. 


289 


journey.  Like  Denham  and  Clapperton,  he  tooK  Tripoli 
as  his  starting-point.  Thence  he  passed  south-west  to 
Ghadamis  and  the  oasis  of  Twat.  Between  the  latter 
and  Timbuktu  lay  the  wild  wastes  of  the  Sahara — never 
trodden  by  man  without  extreme  risk  of  encounter 
with  plunder  and  bloodshed-loving  nomads,  and  death 
from  thirst  or  privation.  Even  these  factors  of  an 
African  journey  had  their  wild  attraction  for  men  of 
Laing's  temperament,  adding  a  sauce  piquante,  as  it  were, 
to  the  otherwise  monotonous  march  and  daily  routine 
of  worry  and  privation.  To  such,  too,  the  frowning 
immensity  of  the  Sahara — the  frightful  desolation 
which  marks  its  every  feature — and  the  flaming  sun 
and  lurid  heavens  that  hang  above  it,  have  elements 
which  strike  them  with  the  profoundest  feelings  of  awe, 
and  leave  an  indelible  impress  on  their  minds. 

For  sixteen  days  after  leaving  Twat,  Laing  under- 
went all  these  sensations  in  their  most  striking  form ; 
and  that  his  experiences  of  desei-t  travel  might  be  com- 
plete, he  was  attacked  at  night  by  a  party  of  Tuareg 
marauders,  and  left  for  dead,  with  no  less  than  twenty- 
four  wounds.  Thanks,  however,  to  the  secret  elixir  of 
heroic  minds  and  the  soundness  of  his  constitution,  he 
miraculously  recovered,  and  undismayed,  continued  his 
way  to  Timbuktu,  which  was  reached  on  the  1 8th  August 
1826. 

Laing  was  the  first  European  who  had  ever  entered 
that  historic  city,  which  for  four  centuries  had  been 
the  loadstone  of  kings,  merchants,  and  savants.  He 
arrived  in  an  unhappy  hour.  Only  a  short  time  before 
the  first  waves  of  the  approaching  tide  of  Fulah  in- 
fluence had  entered  the  region  of  the  Upper  Niger. 
Already  Timbuktu  had  felt  its  strange  power,  though 


290 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER 


resenting  the  political  position  usurped  by  the  ministers 
of  the  new  revival. 

For  a  month  Laing  was  allowed  to  remain  unmo- 
lested. Then  he  was  ordered  to  leave  the  city  of  the 
Faithful.  There  was  no  resisting  the  mandate,  and  he 
passed  forth  on  the  22nd  September,  only  to  be  foully 
murdered  two  days  later  by  the  people  who  had  under- 
taken to  escort  him  across  the  desert.  With  him 
unfortunately  perished  the  records  of  his  observations 
and  inquiries. 

Two  years  later,  Caill^,  a  somewhat  illiterate,  though 
persevering  and  intrepid  Frenchman,  entered  the  city 
fi'om  which  Laing  had  been  driven  forth.  Years  before, 
this  young  explorer,  in  his  far-off  French  home,  had 
heard  the  echoes  of  African  enterprise.  Inflamed  with 
the  romantic  story,  he  had  seen  by  the  blank  maps  of 
the  continent  how  much  there  was  to  be  done,  and  what 
fame  there  was  to  be  acquired  by  him  who  could  make 
his  mark  on  those  still  virgin  sheets.  To  be  an  African 
traveller  became  thenceforth  the  object  of  his  life.  For 
years  he  dreamed  of  and  prepared  himself  for  the  work. 
But  it  was  one  thing  to  dream  of — one  thing  even  to 
reach  the  threshold  of  new  lands — and  quite  another  to 
penetrate  them,  as  he  soon  found.  Time  after  time 
his  hopes,  when  almost  at  the  point  of  reahsation,  were 
rudely  dashed  to  the  ground  ;  but  uncrushed,  he  waited 
his  time  and  opportunity,  though  without  private  means, 
and  conscious  that  the  ears  of  the  wealthy  and  the  power- 
ful were  deaf  to  his  schemes  and  representations. 

But  while  Caille  dreamed  and  petitioned  he  also 
worked.  As  a  subordinate  oflacial  under  the  Government 
of  Sierra  Leone,  he  was  enabled  by  dint  of  economy  and 
industry  to  save  the  sum  of  ^So.    To  him  this  slender 


FILLING  UP  THE  DETAILS. 


291 


sum  appeared  the  "  open  sesame  "  of  fame  and  fortune. 
It  was  the  instrument  whereby  he  should  open  the 
oyster  shell,  and  gain  the  priceless  pearl  within. 

On  the  19th  April  1827,  Caill^  left  Kakundy,  on  the 
River  Nunez,  and  midway  between  Sierra  Leone  and  the 
Gambia,  in  the  company  of  a  small  caravan  of  Man- 
dingoes.  Travelling  east,  he  crossed  the  country  of 
Futa  Jallon,  through  which  northward  ran  the  upper 
tributaries  of  the  Senegal,  and  eastward  those  of  the 
Niger.  The  latter  river  was  reached  at  Kurusa,  in 
the  district  of  Kankan,  and  was  found  to  be  even  there 
a  fine  stream  from  eight  to  ten  feet  deep. 

Having  crossed  the  Niger,  he  continued  east  to  the 
country  of  Wasulu,  a  well  cultivated  and  thickly  in- 
habited region.  Thence  he  travelled  north-east,  till  at 
length  he  again  reached  the  banks  of  the  Niger,  a  short 
distance  to  the  west  of  Jennd  This  town  he  was  the 
first  European  to  enter,  though  Park  had  seen  it  on  his 
last  journey. 

From  Jenne,  Caille  sailed  down  the  Niger  in  a  rudely 
built  vessel  of  considerable  dimensions  to  Kabara,  the 
port  of  Timbuktu,  whence  he  proceeded  on  horseback 
to  the  city  itself. 

The  aspect  of  Timbuktu  in  nowise  realised  the  glowing 
anticipations  of  the  traveller.  Instead  of  the  wealthy 
and  powerful  city,  touched  with  the  glamour  of  the 
shining  orient,  which  he  had  been  taught  to  expect, 
there  lay  before  him  only  a  collection  of  miserable  mud 
buildings,  among  which  rose  several  mosques,  look- 
ing imposing  only  in  comparison  with  the  rude  huts 
around  them.  To  the  north-east  and  south  spread  the 
immensity  of  the  great  desert  as  one  vast  plain  of 
burning,  repellent  sands,  over  which  the  silence  of 

u 


292 


MUNGO  PARK  AND.  THE  NIGER. 


death  brooded,  except  where  pariah  dogs  or  loathsome 
vultures  feasted  on  the  carrion  or  offal  thrown  out  of 
the  towD .  Such  •  was  the  place  in  which  Commerce  had 
established  her  Central  African  emporium,  and  gathered 
together  the  trading  veins  and  arteries  which  ramified 
more  or  less  throughout  the  whole  of  North-eastern 
Africa.  Here,  too,  amid  these  dreary  wastes,  Moslem 
learning  had  made  her  seat;  and  here  the  religion  of 
Islam  had  found  an  abiding  centre  from  which  to  radiate 
its  influence  into  the  most  barbarous  depths  of  negro 
Africa. 

Seen  thus  in  relation  to  its  surroundings,  its  position, 
and  its  functions,  the  mud  huts  and  rudely  built  mosques 
which  compose  it  acquire  a  tinge  of  the  sublime,  and 
strike  the  imagination  more  even  than  the  stupendous 
wonders  of  a  London  or  a  Paris. 

For  a  fortnight  Caill^ — secure  in  his  disguise — re- 
mained in  Timbuktu,  after  which  he  set  forth  with  a 
caravan  to  cross  the  desert  to  Morocco.  Along  no 
other  part  of  the  Sahara  does  the  desert  appear  in 
such  a  terror-striking  aspect.  Through  one  tract  the 
caravan  had  to  travel  with  all  possible  expedition  for 
ten  days,  not  a  drop  of  water  being  obtainable.  The 
privations  endured  were  indescribable,  men  and  animals 
alike  being  reduced  to  the  dire.st  extremity  before  water 
was  reached  and  their  tortures  assuaged.  Further  north 
similar  experiences  awaited  them,  till  the  caravan  arrived 
at  the  River  Dra.  Thence  the  march  was  performed 
with  comparative  comfort  by  way  of  Tafilet  and  the 
Atlas  to  Fez  and  Tangier,  where  Caill6  arrived  on  the 
1 8th  August  1828. 

With  Lander's  descent  of  the  Niger  from  Bussa  to 
the  sea,  the  course  of   Niger  enterprise  received  a 


FILLING  UP  THE  DETAILS. 


293 


new  development  and  impetus.  The  glowing  accounts 
brought  back  by  its  explorers  of  the  rich  lands  and 
powerful  civilised  kingdoms  through  which  it  flowed 
found  eager  hearers  in  England  j  and  now  that  an 
entrance  had  been  found  by  which  the  heart  of  these 
promising  regions  could  be  reached,  such  hearers  were 
not  slow  to  act  and  test  in  a  practical  fashion  the  com- 
mercial value  of  the  great  waterway. 

In  this  new  movement  Macgregor  Laird,  of  Liverpool, 
was  the  leading  spirit.  Under  his  instructions  two 
steamers  were  specially  constructed  for  the  work.  Laird 
himself  took  command,  and  with  him  were  associated 
Lander,  and  Lieutenant  Allen  of  the  navy,  with  Dr. 
Briggs  and  Mr.  Oldfield  as  medical  attendants. 

Hardly  had  the  party  entered  the  Nun  branch  of  the 
river,  in  August  1832,  when  the  malaria  commenced  its 
ravages,  causing  the  death  of  a  captain  and  two  seamen. 
The  first  business  of  the  expedition  was  to  find  a  suitable 
navigable  channel  among  the  many  bewildering  branches, 
creeks,  and  backwaters  which  spread  a  labyrinthine 
network  over  the  delta,  whose  mangrove  swamps  were 
"  uninviting  when  descried,  repulsive  when  approached, 
dangerous  when  examined,  and  horrible  and  loathsome 
when  their  qualities  and  their  inhabitants  were  known." 
Here  the  air  reeked  with  the  essence  of  poisonous  odours 
— damp,  clammy,  and  deadly ;  and  the  nights  were  made 
hideous  by  the  never-ceasing  attacks  of  clouds  of  mos- 
quitoes and  sandflies. 

For  six  weeks  Laird  was  engaged  in  his  exploration 
of  the  delta,  with  the  result  that  eighteen  men  suc- 
cumbed to  fever.  For  a  time  the  expedition  threatened 
to  end  in  the  death  of  the  entire  party,  hardly  one 
escaping  the  dire  effects  of  the  malaria.     But  Laird  and 


294 


MUNCO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER 


his  companions  were  men  not  easily  discouraged  or  de- 
feater^    pro  c.t  ]£:^';oh  tbey  got  away  from  the  deadly 

area,  and  reached  the  un- 
divided river  and  healthier 
upper  regions.   It  was  like 
an  escape  from  a  loathsome 
purgatory  to  an  earthly 
paradise,  when  the  party 
sailed  intotheopen  reaches 
of  the  noble  stream,  barred 
in  by  tropic  forest  and 
swept  by  cooling  breezes. 
?    Viewed  commercially,how- 
3    ever,  the  prospect  proved 
^    somewhat  unsatisfactory, 
<    and  did   not  correspond 
I    with   the  glowing  hopes 
'"^l    with  which  the  party  had 
S    left  England.    There  was 
o    no  thought,  however,  of 
5    giving  way  to  the  first 
feeling  of  disappointment, 
and   in   the    belief  that 
matters    would  improve 
once  beyond  the  barbar- 
ous zone,  they  continued 
their  way  up  the  river. 
Unfortunately,  they  had 
chosen  the  wrong  time  of 
the  year  to  make  the  as- 
cent    Already  the  river 
n  ouce  the  larger  of  the  two 


Avas  falliD^-.  '\' 
steamers  oiounded 


sand-banks,  and  finally  had  to  be 


FILLING  UP  THE  DETAILS. 


295 


laid  up  till  the  rising  of  the  waters  should  set  in  once 
more.  Attempts  to  reach  Rabba  signally  failed,  though 
Laird  ascended  the  Benue  some  distance  in  a  boat. 

In  the  following  season  Oldfield  and  Lander  were 
more  successful.  The  Benue  was  ascended  to  a  distance 
of  104  miles  before  they  were  compelled  to  return  from 
want  of  supplies.  On  the  Main  Niger  they  were  also 
more  fortunate  than  in  the  previous  year.  Rabba  was 
safely  reached,  and  found  to  contain  a  population  little 
short  of  40,000,  being  at  that  time  the  capital  of  Nupe. 

Beyond  Rabba  it  was  found  impossible  to  proceed, 
and  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  return  to  the  coast,  to 
recruit  and  prepare  for  another  attempt  to  establish  a 
trade  in  the  river. 

This  new  venture,  however,  ended  in  disaster.  On 
the  way  back  Lander  was  shot,  and  was  only  kept  alive 
till  Fernando  Po  was  reached.  With  him  ended  for 
the  time  being  Macgregor  Laird's  enterprise.  Though 
carried  out  with  splendid  persistence  and  self-sacrifice, 
its  results  were  sadly  negative,  while  out  of  the  forty- 
nine  Europeans  who  had  been  engaged  in  it  only  nine 
survived  the  fevers. 

For  several  years  nothing  more  was  done  to  turn  what 
was  only  too  well  named  "  the  white  man's  grave  "  to 
further  account.  In  1840,  however.  Governor  Beecroft 
ascended  the  river  to  within  thirty  miles  of  Bussa,  and 
got  back  without  much  loss  of  life,  though  adding  but 
little  to  our  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  the  region. 

Meanwhile  philanthropists  were  as  much  interested 
in  the  opening  up  of  the  Niger  basin  to  European 
influence  as  was  the  commercial  world.  Laird's  ex- 
pedition, though  having  trade  as  its  primary  object, 
"hoped  also  to  aid  in  suppressing  the  slave  tirade,  in 


296  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


introducing  true  religion,  civilisation,  and  humanising 
influences  among  natives  whose  barbarism  had  hitherto 
been  only  heightened  by  European  connection." 

These  unselfish  aims  were  further  emphasised  in  1841, 
when  the  Government,  still  undaunted  by  the  fatal  char- 
acter of  the  work,  sent  out  three  steamers  with  the  object 
of  making  treaties  with  the  Niger  chiefs  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  slave  trade.  A  model  farm  was  to  be  estab- 
lished at  the  confluence  of  the  Benue  and  the  main 
river,  to  teach  the  natives  better  methods  of  agriculture, 
and  generally  the  foundations  were  to  be  laid  of  the 
great  British  Empire  of  which  M 'Queen  had  dreamed. 
Thus,  in  some  small  way,  expiation  was  to  be  made 
for  the  sins  of  earlier  generations.  Everything  that 
science  and  forethought  could  suggest  was  done  to  make 
this  expedition  a  success,  but  unhappily  no  way  had 
yet  been  found  to  ward  off  the  insidious  attacks  of 
malaria,  or  counteract  the  effects  of  the  fever  germs  once 
they  had  gained  a  footing  in  the  system.  The  result 
was  death  and  disaster.  No  higher  point  than  Egga 
was  reached,  and  that  only  by  one  steamer.  Out  of 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  men,  forty-eight  died  within 
the  two  months  the  vessels  were  in  the  river. 

The  project  of  turning  the  Niger  to  profitable  account, 
in  the  face  of  such  frightful  mortality  and  deadly  climatic 
conditions,  seemed  now  to  be  utterly  hopeless.  From 
Major  Houghton  downwards,  death  by  violence,  priva- 
tion, or  disease  had  been  the  fate  of  whoever  had 
attempted  to  open  it  up  to  European  influence.  No 
other  river  had  such  a  romantic  history  of  heroic  self- 
sacrifice — none  such  a  martyr  roll — none  such  a  record  of 
heroism  and  precious  blood  apparently  uselessly  thrown 
away. 


FILLING  UP  THE  DETAILS. 


297 


Was  it  really  all  in  vain  1  Was  neither  the  Euro- 
pean nor  the  native  to  derive  any  benefit  from  the 
exploration  of  this  silvery  streak  through  the  beautiful 
West  Coast  Highlands,  the  densely  populated  plains  of 
Sego  and  Massina,  the  depopulated  half  desert  wilder- 
ness of  Songhay  and  Gandu,  the  forest  depths  of  Igara 
and  Ado,  and  the  mangrove  swamps  around  the  Bight 
of  Benin.  Were  Park,  Clapperton,  Lander,  and  all  the 
other  explorers  of  the  Niger  basin,  only  to  be  remem- 
bered in  future  ages  for  the  heroic  virtues  they  had 
shown,  and  not  as  the  pioneers  of  a  new  era  of  hope 
to  the  African  —  the  founders  of  a  great  national 
enterprise,  bright  with  promise  alike  to  Britain  and  to 
Africa  ? 

The  thought  of  such  an  ending  was  not  to  be  enter- 
tained without  reluctance,  yet  it  seemed  inevitable. 
Savage  opposition  and  ordinary  physical  difficulties 
might  in  time  be  overcome,  but  who  could  fight 
against  the  disease  which  lurked  unseen  in  the  foetid 
depths  of  mangrove  forests,  and  filled  the  air  with  its 
poisonous  germs  ?  Who  could  avoid  the  incurable 
blight  of  its  deadly  breath  ? 

Already  such  questions  had  been  asked,  when  the 
failure  of  Tuckey's  expedition  gave  pause  for  a  time 
to  Niger  exploration,  till  Clapperton  and  Denliam, 
attacking  the  region  from  the  rear,  had  made  the  de- 
spondent once  more  hopeful.  Strangely  enough,  the 
recurrence  of  the  same  crisis  brought  with  it  a  similar 
cure. 

In  1849  an  expedition  set  forth  from  Tripoli,  under 
Government  auspices  this  time,  commanded  by  Richard- 
son, and  Drs.  Barth  and  Overweg. 

The  frontiers  of  Bornu  were  safely  reached,  and  here 


298 


MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


the  party  divided — never  to  meet  again.  Richardson 
and  Overvveg  went  the  way  of  Toole  and  Oiidney,  and 
only  Earth  was  left  to  carry  out  the  objects  of  the 
expedition.  Right  worthily  he  performed  his  task. 
Never  before  had  such  a  rich  harvest  of  geographical, 
historical,  ethnographical,  and  philological  facts  been 
gathered  in  the  African  field  of  research. 

From  Kanem  to  Timbuktu,  from  Tripoli  to  Adamawa, 
he  laid  the  land  under  contribution.  Vain  would  it  be 
in  the  restricted  space  of  these  pages  to  follow  him  in 
his  wonderful  travels.  It  may  be  noted,  however,  that 
while  travelling  south-west  from  Kuka  in  Bornu  to  the 
Fulah  province  of  Adamawa,  he  reached  on  the  i8th 
June  1 85 1  the  river  Benue,  at  its  junction  with  the 
Faro,  and  415  geogi-aphical  miles  in  a  direct  line  from 
its  confluence  with  the  Niger.  Not  since  leaving 
Europe  had  he  seen  so  large  and  imposing  a  river. 
Even  at  this  distant  point  the  Benue,  or  "  Mother  of 
Waters,"  is  half  a  mile  broad,  and  runs  with  a  swift  cur- 
rent to  the  west.  It  was  said  to  rise  nine  days'  journey 
to  the  south-east,  while  the  Faro  came  from  a  mountain 
seven  days'  journey  distant. 

Only  second  in  importance  to  his  discovery  of  the 
Benue  so  far  to  the  east  of  the  Niger,  was  his  explora- 
tion of  the  great  bend  of  the  Niger  itself. 

Travelling  from  Bornu,  he  passed  west  through 
Sokoto  and  Gandu  to  the  Niger  at  Say,  some  distance 
above  the  point  where  the  Gulbi-n-Gindi  from  Sokoto 
joins  the  main  river. 

From  Say  he  travelled  in  a  north-easterly  direction 
across  the  great  bend,  among  wild  Tuareg  tribes,  and 
the  romantic  mountains  of  Hombori,  to  Timbuktu. 
Thence  he  once  more  returned  to  the  safer  Haussa 


FILLING  UP  THE  DETAILS. 


299 


States  along  the  river  banks,  whereon  no  European  eye 
save  Park's  had  ever  before  rested.  Here  he  was  in  the 
centre  of  the  once  wonderful  Songhay  Empire,  of  which 
the  sole  relics  left  after  the  destructive  blows  of  Moor, 
Tuareg,  and  Fulah,  were  a  few  miserable  villages,  whose 
inhabitants  eked  out  a  wretched  existence,  equally 
ground  down  by  drought  and  the  ravages  of  human 
marauders. 

One  result  of  Earth's  discovery  of  the  Benu^  so  near 
Lake  Chad  was  the  despatch  of  another  expedition,  to 
determine  if  possible  the  navigability  of  the  river,  a 
point  which  previous  attempts  had  failed  to  settle  satis- 
factorily. 

Macgregor  Laird  was  again  the  leading  spirit  in  this 
new  enterprise,  and  anything  that  past  experience  could 
suggest  was  taken  advantage  of  to  ensure  a  successful 
trip.    Dr.  Baikie,  R.N.,  and  D.  J.  May,  went  as 

surveying  officers  and  leaders,  several  other  gentlemen 
being  associated  with  them.  This  in  some  respects  was 
the  most  successful  of  the  Government  surveying  expe- 
ditions, for  it  not  only  explored  and  surveyed  the  Benue 
for  a  distance  of  340  miles,  but  returned  without  any 
special  loss  of  life. 

With  this  trip  practically  closed  our  Government's 
participation  in  the  work  of  opening  up  the  Niger. 
Thenceforth  it  contented  itself  with  sending  from  time 
to  time  a  gunboat  into  the  river  on  some  punitive  mis- 
sion, but  no  special  attempts  were  made  to  further  en- 
lighten the  world  as  to  its  geography  and  resources. 
Henceforth  all  such  work  was  left  to  private  enter- 
prise, Government  remaining  aloof,  disposed  neither 
to  encourage  nor  discourage,  but  clearly  satisfied  that 
nothing  of  importance  could  be  made  of  a  partially 


300 


MUNGO  PAEK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


navigable  river,  flowing  through  a  country  of  seemingly 
no  great  commercial  capabilities,  and  with  a  climate 
which  made  colonisation  out  of  the  question,  and  even 
a  residence,  however  short,  almost  impossible  to  the 
average  European. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


THE  FRENCH  ADVANCE  TO  THE  NIGER. 

With  the  practical  withdrawal  of  our  Government 
from  Niger  enterprise,  M 'Queen's  magnificent  dream 
of  British  Empire  in  the  heart  of  Africa  seemingly 
vanished  for  ever.  A  new  school  of  politicians  ap- 
peared in  our  national  councils  who  had  so  little  read 
the  secrets  of  our  country's"  greatness,  that  their  cry 
was  for  no  more  foreign  expansion — no  more  colonial 
responsibilities. 

The  influence  of  the  retrograde  movement  soon  began 
to  tell  on  the  fortunes  of  West  Africa.  Already  its 
natural  development  had  been  retarded  by  a  deadly 
climate,  a  scarcity  of  valuable  products,  and  the  bar- 
barity and  laziness  of  its  inhabitants.  To  these  were 
now  added  Government  neglect  and  mismanagement. 
Administrators  and  governors  were  told  to  restrict  their 
operations  to  the  narrowest  limits.  Merchants  were 
either  debarred  access  to  the  interior,  or  informed  that 
they  would  advance  at  their  own  risk,  and  with  no  hope 
of  Government  support.  Geographical  enterprise  shared 
in  the  general  blight.  The  work  of  exploring  a  region 
which  had  become  classic  through  the  travels  and 
martyred  lives  of  so  many  of  Britain's  most  worthy 
sons  was  stopped. 

Needless  to  say,  such  a  policy  led  to  disgraceful 
301 


302 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


results.  British  influence  was  confined  to  the  coast 
region,  there  to  eke  out  a  miserable  political  and 
commercial  existence  among  its  deadly  swamps;  our 
governors  were  given  the  old  woman's  task  of  adminis- 
tering ludicrously  unsuitable  laws,  or  palavering  over 
petty  disputes  with  still  more  petty  tribal  chiefs ;  our 
merchants,  thanks  to  the  conditions  under  which  they 
were  placed,  became  degraded  into  barterers  of  gin,  rum, 
tobacco,  gunpowder,  and  guns,  the  best  Europe  had  to 
give  in  return  for  Africa's  oils,  gold,  and  ivory.  But 
while  we  were  thus  degenerating  into  an  invertebrate 
abortion  of  British  colonial  genius,  fit  occupant  of  slimy 
swamps  and  fever- breeding  jungles,  a  continental  rival 
was  preparing  to  step  into  our  shoes,  and  reap  the 
reward  of  our  former  labours. 

Almost  coincidently  wath  the  practical  throwing  up 
of  our  work  on  the  Lower  Niger,  the  French  began 
to  bestir  themselves  on  the  Senegal,  and  cast  longing 
eyes  towards  Bambarra  and  the  Upper  Niger.  They 
too  began  to  dream  of  Central  African  Empire — as 
once  McQueen  had  done — and  to  see  far  off  in  the 
future  their  flag  supreme  from  the  Mediterranean 
coast  line  of  Algiers  to  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic. 
The  key  of  the  situation  they  clearly  saw  lay  in  the 
Niger.  Once  established  there,  with  the  necessary 
openings  to  the  west,  they  would  have  command  of 
the  whole  of  the  Western  Sudan,  and  possibly  also  of 
the  Central  Region. 

With  patient  foresight  they  began  to  send  explorers 
along  the  line  of  proposed  conquest,  carrying  with  them 
ready-made  treaties,  French  flags,  and  blank  maps. 
Already  French  influence  had  made  itself  felt  far  up 
the  river,  and  forts  had  been  established  in  the  very 


THE  FRENCH  ADVANCE  TO  THE  NIGER. 


303 


earliest  days  of  their  rule.  Such  of  the  latter  as  had 
fallen  into  ruins  or  had  been  deserted  were  once  more 
occupied  and  repaired,  and  new  advance  posts  were 
pushed  further  into  the  heart  of  the  country. 

Soon  they  had  firmly  established  themselves  as  high 
up  the  Senegal  as  the  point  where  Park  in  his  first 
expedition  had  crossed  it  on  his  way  to  Kaarta.  This 
was  the  limit  of  the  river's  navigability  in  the  wet 
season.  But  no  consideration  of  natural  difficulties 
gave  limit  to  their  dream  of  power. 

In  1863,  two  officers,  E.  Mage  and  Dr.  Quintin, 
prospected  a  way  to  the  Niger  across  the  intervening 
highlands  lying  between  the  two  rivers.  French  arms 
were  not  slow  to  follow  where  French  explorers  led, 
and  speedy  preparations  were  made  to  complete  the 
base  of  operations  for  the  final  advance  to  their  pro- 
mised land. 

Meanwhile  our  representatives  on  the  coast,  stewing 
in  their  miserable,  disease- stricken  belt,  were  not  blind 
to  the  progress  being  made  by  our  enterprising  neigh- 
bours, nor  unaware  of  their  vast  designs  of  conquest 
and  commercial  monopoly,  and  the  probable  result  to 
England's  poHtical  and  commercial  position  in  these 
regions.  In  vain  they  drew  the  attention  of  the  Home 
Government  to  the  situation,  and  asked  for  power  to  act 
before  it  was  too  late.  They  were  but  as  voices  crying 
in  the  wilderness,  to  which  as  little  heed  was  paid  as 
gives  the  Bedouin  to  the  desert  mirage.  More  than 
that,  the  coast  authorities  were  told  to  let  the  French 
go  where  they  liked,  and  not  to  throw  any  obstacles  in 
their  way. 

The  French  were  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  the 
field  thus  left  open  to  them.     By  1880  their  line  of 


304 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER 


forts  on  the  Senegal  was  completed,  and  everything 
ready  for  their  next  move.  For  this  enterprise  Captain 
Gallieni  was  appointed  leader,  and  at  the  head  of  a 
small  army  of  drilled  troops,  and  a  considerable  train 
of  donkeys,  native  drivers,  native  servants,  &c.,  he 
started  in  1880  on  his  mission  of  planting  the  French 
flag  on  the  Upper  Niger,  where,  from  our  geographical 
position  and  priority  of  exploration,  the  Union  Jack 
alone  should  have  floated. 

As  far  as  the  confluence  of  the  Bakhoy  and  the 
Bafing,  the  march  of  Gallieni  was  attended  by  nothing 
worse  than  the  usual  amount  of  worry  and  trouble 
incident  to  the  passage  of  a  small  army  through  a 
barbarous  or  semi-barbarous  country.  Beyond,  how- 
ever, lay  the  unoccupied  and  but  partially  explored 
country  between  the  Senegal  and  the  Niger.  Here  the 
special  trials  and  cares  of  the  expedition  commenced. 
Food  was  often  obtained  with  difficulty.  Their  advance 
was  naturally  viewed  with  suspicion  by  the  natives, 
and  much  care  and  tact  was  required  to  prevent  fric- 
tion. In  spite  of  all  obstructions,  however,  they 
gradually  pushed  south  towards  their  goal,  leaving 
French  flags  in  the  hands  of  the  chiefs,  and  bearing 
with  them  treaties  placing  the  latter  and  their  people 
under  the  protection  of  France. 

Before  the  Niger  was  reached  the  expedition  came 
near  being  destroyed  by  a  determined  attack  made  on 
it  by  a  people  called  Beleris.  The  Beleris  were  success- 
fully repulsed,  however,  and  two  days  later  Bammaku 
on  the  Niger  was  reached,  where  already  the  tricolour 
was  found  floating — an  advance  section  of  the  party 
having  succeeded  in  concluding  the  customary  treaty. 
By  what  means  the  treaty  was  obtained  we  are  not 


THE  FKENCH  ADVANCE  TO  THE  NIGER  305 


told,  though  we  do  learn  that  Gallieni's  reception  was 
cold  and  inhospitable. 

It  now  only  remained  to  get  to  Sego,  to  see  the 
Suzerain  of  the  Upper  Niger  chiefs  and  kings,  and 
conclude  a  treaty  with  him.  For  this  purpose  Gallieni 
crossed  the  Niger  and  travelled  along  the  south  side  of 
the  river.  On  his  arrival  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
capital,  he  was  stopped,  and  ordered  to  remain  where 
he  was,  till  his  business  was  settled.  Many  weary 
weeks  and  months  were  passed  in  the  attempt  to  get 
Amadu,  the  Sultan  of  Sego,  to  sign  a  treaty,  placing 
his  country  under  a  French  protectorate.  In  the  end 
the  necessary  signature  was  obtained,  and  from  that 
moment  French  rule — on  paper — was  supreme  from 
the  sources  of  the  Niger  to  Timbuktu. 

France,  however,  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  be 
satisfied  with  a  merely  mental  recognition  of  her 
authority.  With  splendid  energy  and  perseverance  she 
pushed  forward  her  forts  into  the  valley  of  the  Bakhoy 
— the  watershed  of  the  two  rivers ;  and  finally  built  her- 
self an  abiding  habitation  on  the  Niger  itself.  At  the 
same  time  a  railway  was  commenced,  having  for  its 
object  the  connection  of  the  highest  navigable  point  of 
the  Senegal  with  Bammaku.  At  the  same  time  a  gun- 
boat was  carried  over  in  sections,  and  put  together  on 
the  river,  as  a  further  symbol  of  French  authority,  and  a 
potent  instrument  to  spread  its  influence. 

To  further  secure  their  prize  from  the  possible  results 
of  the  awakening  of  the  British  Government,  France 
set  about  isolating  the  River  Gambia  by  a  cordon  of 
treaties,  leaving  the  waterway  British,  but  making  all 
else  French.  To  make  her  position  yet  more  strong, 
'11  the  countries  towards  the  upper  tribut&ries  and 

X 


306 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


sources  of  the  Niger  were  placed  under  French  protec- 
tion, and  almost  the  entire  coast  line  from  the  Gambia 
south  to  Sierra  Leone  was  taken  possession  of.  And 
through  it  all  our  Government  peacefully  slept  on, 
having  left  orders  not  to  be  awakened ;  or  it  woke  up 
only  to  blink  approval,  delighted  to  be  rid  of  the  whole 
troublesome  business. 

Sixty  years  before  M'Queen  had  written — "  France  is 
already  established  on  the  Senegal,  and  commands  that 
river,  and  if  the  supineness  and  carelessness  of  Great 
Britain  allow  that  powerful,  enterprising,  and  ambitious 
rival  to  step  before  us  and  fix  herself  securely  on  the 
Niger,  then  it  is  evident  that  with  such  a  settlement  in 
addition  to  her  command  of  the  Senegal,  France  will 
command  all  Northern  Africa.  The  consequences  cannot 
fail  to  be  fatal  to  the  best  interests  of  this  country,  and 
by  means  surer  than  even  by  war  and  conquest,  tend 
ultimately  to  bring  ruin  on  our  best  tropical  colonial 
establishment." 

What  McQueen  had  feared,  had  now  come  to  pass, 
as  regards  the  political  aspect  of  the  action  of  the 
French  in  the  Niger  kingdoms.  It  still  remains  to 
be  seen  what  is  to  be  the  commercial  outcome  of  their 
African  dream. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY. 

It  has  ever  been  a  good  thing  for  British  commercial 
enterprise  that  its  agents  have  never  had  to  rely  on 
their  Government  to  pioneer  new  trade  routes,  and 
secure  for  them  imexploited  territory.  Our  merchants 
have  required  nothing  but  a  free  hand  to  cut  out  their 
own  paths,  and  that  the  fruits  of  their  labours  should 
not  be  taken  from  them  by  the  political  action  of  other 
nationalities.  What  has  been  accomplished  on  these 
terms  let  half  our  colonies  say. 

The  above  rule,  though  general,  has  not  been  inva- 
riably applied,  as  witness  the  case  of  West  Africa,  al- 
ready described,  in  which,  as  the  result  of  Government 
restriction  and  interference,  the  harvest  of  British  labour 
has  passed  into  French  hands,  and  commercial  enter- 
prise has  become  crushed  and  degraded  along  with  the 
regions  in  which  it  has  been  carried  on. 

Happily  for  our  position  in  West  Central  Africa,  the 
Niger  basin  never  fell  under  these  blighting  influences. 
When  our  Government  withdrew  from  that  region  it 
withdrew  completely,  otherwise  there  would  have  been 
yet  another  chapter  of  lamentable  mal-admiuistration 
and  gross  betrayal  of  a  nation's  trust  to  add  to  the  annals 
of  West  African  history. 

The  Niger  was  thus  left  free  to  be  made  the  most  af 

by  the  operations  of  private  enterprise. 

307 


308 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER 


For  a  few  years  after  Baikie's  expedition  nothing 
more  was  done  to  establish  a  trade  in  the  river.  Not  that 
the  task  was  abandoned  as  hopeless.  On  the  contrary, 
new  plans  were  germinating  and  steadily  taking  shape 
and  form  preparatory  to  renewed  attempts  under  more 
hopeful  conditions. 

By  this  time  people  had  begun  to  realise  more 
thoroughly  the  nature  of  a  tropical  life,  and  knew 
better  how  to  fight  the  insidious  and  dangerous  in- 
fluences of  excessive  heat  and  moisture,  and  the  germs 
of  disease  they  fostered.  By  substituting  quinine  for 
the  lancet  in  the  treatment  of  fever,  that  hitherto  deadly 
disease  had  been  robbed  of  half  its  terrors. 

Once  more  Macgregor  Laird — a  name  that  must  be 
bracketed  with  those  of  Park,  M 'Queen,  and  Lander — 
was  the  leader  in  the  new  movement.  Undaunted  by 
past  losses  and  failures — on  the  contrary,  shown  by 
their  teaching  how  victory  was  to  be  achieved — he 
again  entered  the  Niger  in  1852 — this  time  not  to  leave 
it  till  he  had  laid  the  permanent  foundations  of  British 
commercial  influence. 

In  this  new  enterprise  the  pioneer  did  not  restrict 
himself  to  mere  voyages  up  the  river  and  passing  calls 
at  the  chief  marketing  centres.  He  established  stations 
at  various  points,  in  the  form  of  movable  hulks  moored 
in  the  river,  which  had  the  double  advantage  of  being 
capable  of  removal  bodily,  and  of  providing  a  certain 
measure  of  security  from  hostile  attack.  At  the  same 
time,  profiting  by  past  experience  of  the  deadly  nature 
of  the  climate,  the  number  of  European  agents  was 
reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  educated  coast  natives  were 
employed  instead. 

Palm  oil,  ivory,  and  Benni-seed  were  the  sole  pro- 


THE  EOYAL  NIGEK  COMPANY. 


309 


ducts  exported — cotton  goods,  metals  of  various  kinds, 
beads  and  salt,  being  the  chief  articles  given  in  ex- 
change. Nearer  the  coast,  gin,  rum,  gunpowder,  and 
guns  were  largely  in  demand,  as  a  result  of  the  old 
shameful  days  of  slave  dealing.  A  profitable  trade  was 
soon  established,  and  before  many  years  Macgregor  Laird 
had  to  compete  with  new  firms  who  sought  to  share  the 
profits. 

But  though  the  Europeans  thus  increased  in  numbers, 
their  position  continued  to  be  extremely  precarious.  The 
cannibal  tribes  of  the  delta  were  not  slow  to  recognise 
that  their  monopoly  of  the  trade  of  the  upper  river 
was  being  completely  abolished,  and  they  sought  to  bar 
the  way  by  incessant  attacks  on  the  steamers  and  stations 
of  the  various  traders.  These  having  conflicting  interests, 
could  not  be  made  to  combine  for  common  action  against 
the  common  enemy.  From  time  to  time  a  gunboat  paid 
a  hurried  punitive  visit,  but  produced  no  permanent 
impression  upon  the  refractory  inhabitants. 

The  result  of  this  divided  action  on  the  part  of  the 
traders,  and  the  growing  power  and  truculence  of  the 
native  tribes,  was  extremely  disastrous  for  Macgregor 
Laird,  who  eventually  was  forced  to  retire  from  the 
river. 

Along  with  the  growing  dangers  to  the  various  houses 
engaged  in  the  Niger  trade,  new  troubles  began  to  loom 
up  before  them,  retarding  the  proper  and  healthy  com- 
mercial development  of  the  region,  and  threatening  all 
in  a  common  ruin.  At  first  the  field  to  be  exploited 
was  so  large  that  the  traders  came  but  httle  into  con- 
flict. Gradually,  however,  with  the  entrance  of  new  firms, 
and  the  planting  of  new  stations,  they  began  to  encroach 
on  each  other's  districts.    The  result  was  soon  seen  in 


310 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


the  keen  competition  which  ensued.  The  price  of 
native  produce  began  to  go  up,  till  it  threatened  to  rise 
above  its  value.  To  keep  the  trade  going  profitably  the 
agents  were  forced  to  become  more  and  more  unscru- 
pulous as  to  the  nature  of  the  articles  of  import- 
more  and  more  regardless  of  the  claims  of  their  com- 
mercial competitors.  Each  sought  to  drive  the  other 
out,  and  the  natives,  not  slow  to  see  the  advantages 
to  themselves,  did  their  best  to  encourage  the  strife. 
Under  such  conditions  all  legitimate  progress  was  len- 
dered  impossible.  At  any  given  point  the  inhabitants 
were  in  a  position  to  say,  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no 
further,  or  could  clear  the  merchants  out  if  they  thought 
fit.  Enterprise  requiring  considerable  outlay  was  out 
of  the  question  when  the  fruits  were  probably  to  be 
reaped  only  by  rivals.  The  trade,  from  being  restricted 
to  useful  articles,  was  rapidly  degenerating,  so  as  largely 
to  include  vile  spirits  and  weapons  of  destruction. 
Gradually  the  conditions  of  competition  were  making 
a  wholesome  trade  an  impossibility,  and  the  natives, 
instead  of  being  bettered  spiritually  and  materially  by 
EuT-opean  intercourse,  were  being  driven  down  into 
deeper  depths  of  barbarism.  A  state  of  things  which 
our  prophet  M'Queen  had  foretold  in  these  memorable 
words — "If  this  erroneous  policy  is  pursued,  then  to 
the  latest  period  of  time  the  central  and  southern  parts 
of  that  vast  continent  are  doomed  to  remain  in  the  same 
deplorable  state  of  ignorance,  degradation,  and  misery 
which  has  been  their  lot  during  the  lapse  of  three 
hundred  years." 

This  was  a  consummation  of  their  labours  which 
the  merchants  could  not  contemplate  with  equanimity. 
That  they  were  honourable  men  we  have  no  reason  to 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY. 


311 


doubt.  True,  they  went  to  the  Niger  in  order  to  make 
money,  but  they  had  no  thought  of  growing  wealthy  on 
the  ruin  and  degradation  of  the  people  among  whom 
they  traded.  They  had  become  the  victims  of  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  their  business  was  carried  on, 
whereby  they  were  driven  irresistibly  and  even  un- 
wittingly into  the  deplorable  situation  in  which  they 
at  length  found  themselves.  In  a  manner  they  were 
more  to  be  pitied  than  blamed,  for  they  had  conjured  up 
a  Frankenstein  that  threatened  to  be  their  ruin.  To 
one  and  all  it  was  alike  clear  that  as  long  as  open  un- 
regulated competition  lasted,  the  character  of  the  trade 
could  not  be  altered — must  indeed  go  from  bad  to  worse 
— their  profits  become  less  and  less,  and  their  footing 
in  the  country  more  precarious,  subject  as  it  was  to  the 
whims,  enmities,  extortions,  and  restrictions  of  the  bar- 
barous tribes,  armed  by  the  traders  themselves  with  guns 
which  on  occasion  were  turned  against  the  vendors. 

A  turning  point  in  the  commercial  history  of  the 
Niger  had  been  reached,  and  everything  now  depended 
on  the  course  pursued  whether  the  next  departure  would 
be  for  the  weal  or  for  the  woe  of  all  concerned. 

Happily  the  right  man  was  forthcoming  at  this 
critical  juncture,  when  the  necessity  of  a  change  was 
evident  to  all.  Clear-headed,  far-seeing  business  men 
were  in  the  trade — the  peers  among  British  merchants 
wherever  engaged ;  but  something  more  was  wanted  in 
him  who  should  extricate  his  fellows  from  the  difficult 
situation  in  which  they  had  placed  themselves,  Some 
one  was  needed  who,  with  business  instincts  and  know- 
ledge, should  combine  the  savoir  faire  and  knowledge 
of  the  world  of  the  diplomatist.  Such  an  one  was  Sir 
George  T.  Goldie — then  Mr.  G.  Goldie  Taubman — a  name 


312 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


which,  like  that  of  Macgregor  Laird,  must  ever  rank 
in  the  galaxy  of  great  names  associated  with  the  annals 
of  Niger  enterprise. 

At  the  time  Sir  George  Goldie  joined  the  Central 
African  Company  of  London,  the  only  other  houses  in 
the  river  were  Messrs.  Miller  &  Co.,  Glasgow,  the 
West  African  Company  of  Manchester,  and  Mr  James 
Pinnock  of  Liverpool.  Trade  was  carried  on  as  far 
north  as  Egga,  though  commercially  the  Benu^  still 
remained  a  closed  river.  A  visit  to  the  seat  of  opera- 
tions was  sufficient  to  make  Sir  George  aware  of  the 
exact  situation,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of  a  change, 
if  a  legitimate  and  at  the  same  time  profitable  trade 
were  to  be  continued.  The  other  firms  were  already 
impressed  with  the  same  opinion,  and  the  result  of  a 
little  laying  of  heads  together  was  the  amalgamation 
of  all  the  firms  into  the  United  African  Company  in 
the  3^ear  1879. 

The  happy  results  of  this  policy  were  soon  made 
apparent  in  improved  profits.  The  expense  of  manage- 
ment was  enormously  reduced.  Where  formerly  there 
had  been  floating  hulks,  permanent  stations  were  built 
on  land,  and  at  the  same  time  the  number  was  increased. 
The  Company  thus  found  itself  on  an  altogether  new 
footing  with  the  natives,  who  could  now  be  treated  with 
on  equal  terms.  The  trade  grew  by  leaps  and  bounds, 
and  bade  fair  to  become  of  national  importance. 

Naturally  such  prosperity  could  not  continue  without 
attracting  the  envious  attention  of  other  nations,  and 
more  especially  of  the  French,  who,  having  succeeded 
far  beyond  their  wildest  expectations  in  reaping  the 
harvest  sown  by  the  English  in  the  Upper  Niger  basin, 
hoped  by  a  little  judicious  manipulation  to  be  able  to 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY. 


313 


do  the  same  along  the  lower  course  of  the  river,  and  so 
carry  out  their  dream  of  an  almost  exclusive  African 
Empire  stretching  from  Benin  to  the  Mediterranean. 

Under  the  patronage,  more  or  less  open,  of  Gam- 
betta — certainly  instigated  and  encouraged  by  him — the 
first  feelers  were  thrown  out  in  the  establishment  of 
two  commercial  associations— the  Compagnie  Francaise 
de  I'Afrique  Equatoriale  of  Paris,  with  a  capital  of 
;!^i6o,ooo;  and  the  Compagnie  du  Senegal  et  de  la 
Cote  Occidentale  d'Afrique  of  Marseilles,  with  a  sub- 
scribed capital  of  ^600,000. 

Happily  for  British  enterprise  in  the  Niger  basin  our 
interests  were  watched  over  by  argus  eyes,  else  the 
course  of  events  would  have  taken  a  different  turn, 
French  commerce  bringing  everywhere  with  it  the 
French  flag  and  administrative  system,  to  the  eventual 
strangling  of  any  trade  of  ours. 

The  United  African  Company,  till  then  private,  was 
promptly  thrown  open  to  the  public,  and  the  capital 
raised  to  a  million  sterling.  Thus  provided  with  "the 
sinews  of  war,"  the  Company  proceeded  to  give  battle 
to  the  foreign  interlopers,  and  speedily  swept  them  out 
of  the  entire  region.  None  the  less,  however,  did  the 
French  contrive  to  do  incalculable  harm  during  their 
brief  inglorious  career,  under  which  the  gin  trade 
flourished,  and  further  anarchy  was  spread  among  the 
savage  tribes,  as  usual  ever  ready  to  take  full  advantage 
of  division  and  enmity  among  the  European  traders. 

With  the  annihilation  of  the  French  Companies  our 
merchants  once  more  reigned  supreme,  and  all  im- 
mediate danger  of  French  political  and  commercial 
aggression  was  completely  quashed. 

The  footing,  however,  which  the  former  had  even 


314  MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


temporarily  been  able  to  effect,  had  shown  the  preca- 
rious position  of  the  British  Company's  hold  on  the 
country,  unsupported  as  they  were  by  Government 
backing.  They  were  still  open  to  renewed  attempts  at 
aggression — still  liable  to  have  the  fruits  of  their  labour 
and  enterprise  wrested  from  them.  Under  such  condi- 
tions there  could  be  no  real  attempts  to  develop  the 
resources  of  the  country,  or  introduce  new  civilising 
institutions  among  the  natives,  to  effect  which  ends  it 
was  perfectly  clear  that  two  things  were  necessary — 
first,  that  the  Niger  basin  below  Timbuktu  should  be 
declared  British,  as  a  guarantee  against  all  further 
foreign  intrusion ;  and  second,  that  a  Royal  Charter 
should  be  obtained,  under  the  authority  of  which  the 
Company  would  be  enabled  to  proceed  with  the  work  of 
development  and  progress. 

The  necessity  of  this  latter  step  had  already  been  fore- 
seen by  McQueen  long  before  the  Lower  Niger  had  been 
explored,  except  in  M 'Queen's  own  mind.  With  an 
insight  truly  prophetic,  he  pointed  out  that  if  ever  Great 
Britain's  mission  in  the  Niger  was  to  be  achieved,  it 
could  only  be  by  means  of  a  Chartered  Company.  While 
deprecating  a  prolonged  term  of  privilege,  he  argues  that 
its  dumtion  ought  not  to  be  narrowed  too  much,  other- 
wise that  circumstance  would  tend  to  discourage  the 
merchant,  and  prevent  him  from  laying  out  money  at 
the  first  outset,  or  embarking  in  the  trade  with  that 
vigour  which  alone  could  render  it  productive  and  suc- 
cessful. 

In  answer  to  the  argument  against  exclusive  privi- 
lege, he  shows  that  this  exclusive  privilege  is  for  a  trade 
yet  to  be  formed,  and  that  the  commercial  conditions  of 
a  civilised  and  an  uncivilised  country  are  totally  diffe- 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY.  315 


rent.  In  the  latter  "  everything  is  to  do.  Regular  com- 
merce is  to  be  created.  Society  is  almost  altogether  to 
be  formed.  Security  and  civilisation,  law,  order,  and 
religion  are  each  and  all  yet  to  be  intrnduced.  Unity 
of  action  and  design,  therefore,  become  absolutely 
necessary  to  accomplish  all  these  desirable  objects 
— conflicting  interests  amidst  such  a  disjointed  popula- 
tion must  and  will  indefinitely  retard  it.  A  charter  is 
clearly  and  indispensably  necessary  in  order  to  conduct 
mercantile  affairs  to  a  prosperous  issue — in  order  to 
regulate  the  supply,  to  explore  the  country  and  find  out 
the  proper  markets,  to  negotiate  as  an  irresistible  and 
stable  power  with  the  native  princes,  to  purchase  lands, 
to  protect  trade,  to  punish  aggression,  to  rear  up  gradually 
an  empire  in  Africa  such  as  had  been  done  in  India, 
against  which  no  native  power  shall  be  able  to  raise  its 
head.  Then  and  not  till  then  the  trade  may  be  thrown 
open.  .  .  .  Without  such  regulations  for  a  time  there 
is  too  good  reason  to  dread  that  our  connection  with 
Africa  will  never  be  more  than  the  transient  \dsitations 
of  insulated  merchants,"  &c.  &c.  In  these  and  other 
remarkable  words  M 'Queen  graphically  sketches  the  his- 
tory of  the  sixty  years  of  British  intercourse  with  the 
Niger  subsequent  to  the  time  at  which  he  wrote.  Only 
after  such  a  lapse  of  time,  and  through  a  long  series  of 
mistakes  and  the  rude  buffeting  of  facts,  were  our  eyes 
opened  to  the  necessity  of  taking  his  advice. 

Even  then,  however,  the  National  African  Company 
might  have  petitioned  the  Government  in  vain  to  make 
the  Niger  secure  from  foreign  aggression,  or  to  put 
them  on  the  only  possible  footing  to  exploit  and  develop 
a  savage  country  lying  under  the  blight  of  a  deadly 
climate,  but  for  the  sudden  awaking  of  Europe  to  the 


316 


MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGEE. 


supposed-to-be  vast  latent  possibilities  of  the  African 
continent.  A  magnificent  bubble  was  puffed  up  into 
view,  dazzling  all  eyes  with  its  iridescent  hues,  and 
inflaming  all  minds  with  its  promise  of  wealth  and 
power.  European  commerce  was  to  be  regenerated — the 
pressure  on  the  population  was  to  be  relieved- — nations 
were  to  rise  in  power  and  importance.  El  Dorado  and 
Second  India  were  terms  too  weak  to  express  the  possi' 
bilities  of  the  future  when  Africa  was  under  discussion. 

Under  the  electric  glow  of  the  new  craze  deserts  were 
made  to  bloom  like  Eden,  swamps  became  veritable 
arcadias,  the  wilderness  was  repeopled,  and  peace  and 
a  demand  for  European  goods  were  discovered  to  be 
the  prevailing  characteristics  of  the  natives.  The 
result  was  the  scramble  for  Africa,  in  which  the 
chief  nations  of  Europe  made  themselves  ridiculous  by 
the  indecent  haste  with  which  they  rushed  to  raise 
their  respective  flags.  Our  own  Government  was  the 
last  to  feel  the  quickening  influences,  and  then  only 
awoke  under  the  pressure  of  public  opinion,  and  after 
much  that  should  have  been  ours  had  been  lost. 

But  for  the  National  African  Company  the  Niger 
would  probably  now  have  fallen  a  prey  to  France  or 
Germany,  but  with  admirable  forethought  they  had 
strengthened  their  position  and  secured  their  rights  by 
treaties  with  every  native  tribe  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Niger  to  the  Benue.  By  virtue  of  persistent  nagging 
at  the  Foreign  Ofiice,  these  treaties  were  recognised 
by  Government,  and  a  protectorate  proclaimed  over  the 
region  thus  acquired. 

Then  came  the  Berlin  Conference  in  the  winter  of 
1884,  in  which  the  free  navigation  of  the  Niger  was 
established,  but  the  administration  of  the  river  from 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY. 


317 


Timbuktu  to  the  sea  was  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
British. 

This  was  much  ;  but  more  remained  to  be  done.  The 
Niger  and  Benu6  above  their  confluence  still  lay  open 
to  political  and  commercial  aggression,  which'  might  be 
fatal  to  the  best  interests  of  this  country  as  well  as  to 
the  Company  which  had  already  done  so  much. 

Thanks  to  the  persistent  efforts  of  one  Herr  Flegel, 
the  Germans  were  not  slow  to  recognise  this  fact. 
This  indefatigable  trader  and  explorer  commenced  his 
career  as  a  clerk  in  a  trading  house  in  Lagos.  Filled 
with  an  ambition  to  explore  and  extend  German  in- 
fluence, he  contrived  to  ascend  the  Niger  in  British 
mission  steamers  and  trading  vessels,  spying  out  the 
land  wherever  he  went,  and  ever  on  the  outlook  how 
the  British  bread  he  ate  might  be  turned  to  German 
account.  With  much  daring  and  industry,  and  assisted 
by  German  funds,  he  added  much  on  subsequent  trips  to 
our  knowledge  of  some  parts  of  the  Niger  and  Benu^. 

The  result  of  his  inquiries  and  exploration  was  to  fire 
the  German  Colonial  Society  with  the  hope  of  establish- 
ing their  national  influence  in  the  regions  beyond  the 
British  Protectorate. 

Happily  the  National  African  Company  were  as  usual 
wideawake,  and  soon  became  aware  of  the  new  danger 
which  threatened  them.  Immediately  they  set  about 
preparing  to  forestall  any  action  on  the  part  of  the 
Germans.  Already  in  their  self-imposed  task  of  secur- 
ing Bi  itain's  rights  in  the  Niger  they  had  used  up  all 
the  profits  of  their  trade,  but  they  had  no  thought  of 
shrinking  from  the  work.  To  have  the  Germans  in  the 
Niger  would  mean  irreparable  ruin  to  legitimate  com- 
merce, and  the  flooding  of  the  whole  land  with  the  styx- 


318 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


like  flood  of  gill  which  would  inevitably  flow  in  a  de- 
vastating flood  from  Hamburg.  At  this  supreme  moment 
it  became  necessary  once  for  all  to  secure  the  Niger  basin 
to  Britain.  The  Company  did  the  writer  of  these  lines 
the  honour  of  inviting  him  to  take  up  the  task.  Accord- 
ingly, in  February  1885, 1  found  myself  once  more  steam- 
ing towards  the  tropics,  while  as  yet  my  friends  for  the 
most  part  imagined  me  recruiting  in  the  Mediterranean 
from  the  effects  of  my  recent  expedition  to  Masai-land. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY— {Continued). 

On  the  i6th  March  1885  we  entered  the  Nun  mouth  of 
the  River  Niger. 

Heavy  leaden  clouds  hung  overhead,  from  which  rain 
fell  in  a  steady  downpour,  ani  lightning  flashed  at 
rapid  intervals.  From  time  to  time  thunder  crashed 
deafeningly  about  us,  or  more  distantly  blended  with 
the  monotonous  impressive  roar  of  the  Atlantic  breakers. 
A  steaming  atmosphere  threw  its  depressing  shroud  over 
the  scene,  suggesting  fever  germs,  and  all  manner  of 
liver  and  stomachic  complaints.  On  all  sides  stretched 
a  discoloured  reach  of  water,  reflecting  the  leaden  tints 
overhead,  and  running  into  the  mist-veiled  mangrove 
that  ringed  the  horizon. 

As  we  stood  on  the  deck  of  the  S.S.  Apoho,  under  a 
dripping  awning,  we  could  not  but  be  infected  by  the 
melancholy  of  the  scene,  and  might  doubtless  have 
exclaimed  in  Roman  heroics,  "  We  who  come  to  die 
salute  thee,"  but  that  we  had  to  pack  our  traps  and 
prepare  for  landing. 

A  few  more  miles  of  steaming  into  this  "  white  man's 
grave,"  and  our  thoughts  were  diverted  from  the  melan- 
choly of  our  immediate  prospect  by  a  new  and  more  in- 
teresting feature.   There  ahead  of  us,  on  the  left,  where 

creek  and  mangrove  met,  a  leviathian-like  object  stretched 

319 


320 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


its  weird  length  far  into  the  water,  and  laved  its  hundred 
limbs  in  the  placid  depths.  This  was  the  iron  pier  of 
Akassa,  the  then  chief  trading  centre  and  depot  of  the 
National  African  Company. 

Soon  we  were  enabled  to  distinguish  the  beach  strewn 
with  the  relics  of  the  ships  and  barges  of  other  days, 
and  with  the  boats  and  canoes  still  in  use.  Higher  up 
lay  piles  of  stores  and  palm-oil  casks,  while  behind  rose 
a  series  of  roomy  warehouses  built  of  corrugated  iron. 
Further  seaward  stood  the  quarters  of  the  Company's 
agents — the  whole  cosily  ensconced  in  the  arms  of  the 
mangrove  forest,  which  in  the  distance  looked  fasci- 
nating, but  on  closer  acquaintance  proved  to  be  a  fever- 
breeding  quagmire. 

Such  was  Akassa,  where  throbbed  with  undying 
energy  the  busy  current  of  British  commercial  life. 

With  our  arrival  in  the  river  my  days  of  ease  were 
over,  and  prompt  action  and  stern  work  became  the 
order  of  the  day.  No  one  knew  where  Flegel  was,  or 
where  he  might  turn  up.  With  his  minute  knowledge 
of  the  river,  he  was  a  rival  not  to  be  despised.  It 
behoved  me,  therefore,  to  waste  no  time,  and  accordingly, 
having  collected  such  stores  as  were  necessary,  I  started 
on  my  voyage  in  the  steam  launch  Frangais  two  days 
after  reaching  Akassa. 

For  the  first  hour  we  steamed  up  the  rapidly  narrow- 
ing creek  till  we  found  ourselves  confronted  by  a  dense 
barrier  of  mangrove.  For  an  instant  we  seemed  to  be 
insanely  heading  to  wreck  and  disaster,  when  all  at  once 
the  wall  of  vegetation  presented  a  narrow  opening,  and 
we  were  engulfed  in  its  leafy  depths.  Could  this  be  the 
Niger — the  mighty  river  which  drained  the  quarter  of  a 
continent — only  a  stream  thirty  yards  in  breadth,  and 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY. 


321 


some  five  in  depth,  lazily  flowing  seaward  ?  That  stream 
was  formed  of  Niger  water,  but  it  was  not  the  Niger. 

Up  this  insignificant  winding  waterway  our  course  now 
lay.  First  there  was  mangrove  and  nothing  else  simu- 
lating the  appearance  of  dry  land,  alternately  exposed 
as  pestilential  mud  or  covered  by  water,  according  to  the 
state  of  the  tide.  After  a  time  land  appeared  on  the 
level  of  the  highest  tides — the  swamp  vegetation  began 
to  exhibit  a  less  vigorous  growth,  and  was  intermingled 
with  other  trees  and  bushes.  Each  mile  made  the 
transformation  more  marked.  The  land  rose  higher 
and  higher ;  the  mangrove  trees  grew  more  stunted  and 
fewer  in  number;  terrene  plants  took  their  place,  and 
grew  in  size,  in  beauty,  and  in  majesty,  till  the  ideal 
tropical  forest  spread  its  romantic  depths  before  our 
admiring  eyes. 

Coincidently  other  developments  of  the  panorama 
were  taking  place.  The  river  gathered  together  its 
various  branches  and  increased  in  breadth  and  depth, 
till  in  its  full  majestic  unity  it  sunned  its  broad  bosom 
in  the  tropic  glare — a  magnificent  stream  from  a  mile  to 
a  mile  and  a  half  broad. 

With  the  gathering  together  of  the  various  branches 
and  the  improvement  in  the  physical  conditions,  evidences 
of  human  occupation  began  to  show  themselves. 

For  the  first  eight  hours  not  the  faintest  trace  of  man 
had  been  discernible.  Then  appeared  a  deserted  fishing 
weir,  next  an  old  plantation,  by-and-by  a  new  clearing, 
and  immediately  after  a  canoe  propelled  by  two  women, 
which  was  seen  creeping  slowly  along  under  the  river's 
banks. 

At  last,  towards  sunset,  a  couple  of  villages  were 
sighted,  and  thenceforward  man  proclaimed  his  sway 

Y 


322 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


over  the  land,  giving  animation  to  the  scene,  with  now 
and  then  a  picturesque  effect. 

As  we  continued  our  course  our  eyes  were  greeted  by 
the  sight  of  much  that  Lander  and  his  successors  had 
only  dreamed  of  as  the  possible  to  be.  Already  trade 
had  laid  a  prosaic  hand  on  the  great  highway  of  Tale  and 
Travel — the  river  sacred  to  romance,  whose  "golden 
sands,"  by  the  alchemy  of  its  touch,  are  now  transmuted 
to  a  golden  freight  of  palm  oil. 

The  surging  screws,  the  puff  of  steam  and  clang  of 
machinery,  break  the  impressive  stillness  of  the  forest, 
and  fill  the  tropic  air  with  their  unhallowed  echoes, 
driving  the  hippo  from  his  favourite  pool,  the  croco- 
dile from  the  yellow  sand-bank.  Amid  such  sounds,  the 
shrill  scream  of  the  parrot,  and  the  indignant  chatter  of 
the  monkey,  strike  upon  the  ear  with  a  strange  sense 
of  incongruity. 

Here  and  there  the  graceless  front  of  a  trading  station, 
with  its  whitewashed  corrugated  iron  walls  and  roof  of 
European  design,  glares  forth  unblushingly  from  its  bosky 
niche  of  palm  and  silk  cotton  tree.  Thence  issues  the 
matter  of  fact  trader — no  longer  in  the  picturesque  dis- 
array of  the  "palm  oil  ruffian,"  but  resplendent  in  the 
dazzling  glory  of  a  well-starched  shirt  and  snow  white 
duck  trousers — who  strolls  down  to  the  landing-place 
through  a  garden  aglow  with  sunflowers  and  walks  shaded 
by  a  canopy  of  trailing  vines  and  other  creepers. 

The  natives  aro.und  the  station  share  in  the  unro- 
mantic  changes.  They  still  carry  about  with  them  an 
air  of  picturesque  sansculottic  barbarity,  but  jarring 
elements  have  been  superadded.  The  negro  has  de- 
generated into  that  hybrid  creature  the  "nigger,"  bids 
you  "good  morning"  as  he  asks  for  a  pipe  of  tobacco 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY. 


323 


or  a  nip  of  gin,  or  calls  your  attention  to  his  lawn -tennis 
hat — the  latest  fashion,  and  almost  his  sole  dress. 

The  only  circumstance  which  serves  to  maintain  an 
air  of  romance  about  him  is  the  knowledge  we  possess 
that  he  still  loves  his  neighbour  to  the  extent  of  be- 
coming at  times  literally  one  flesh  with  him. 

Everywhere  there  is  evidence  that  the  trader  is  in 
possession.  The  missionary  has  accompanied  him,  eager 
in  the  cause  of  Christ  and  humanity.  Not  unfrequently 
the  sweet  tones  of  the  church  bell  may  be  heard  ringing 
silver  clear  from  the  cathedral  gloom  of  the  forest. 
They  call,  alas !  to  those  who  will  not  hear,  though 
doubtless  to  the  yearning  ear  of  faith  those  sweetly 
solemn  sounds  shape  themselves  into  a  prophecy  of  the 
coming  good  destined  to  re-echo  some  day  through  every 
forest  depth  and  wide  waste  of  jungle. 

Meanwhile,  whatever  be  the  future  of  Christianity  in 
these  lands,  one  thing  becomes  abundantly  clear  to  us 
as  we  continue  our  ascent  of  the  river,  namely,  that  it 
is  not  the  only  religious  force  which  is  penetrating  the 
sodden  mass  of  Niger  heathenism.  Islam,  with  un- 
tiring missionary  enterprise,  has  entered  the  field  and 
thrown  down  the  gauntlet  to  the  older  religion  for  the 
possession  of  the  natives.  Unhappily  so  far,  as  com- 
pared with  the  advancing  tide  of  Mohammedanism,  the 
progress  of  the  Christian  faith  is  practically  at  a  stand- 
still. Half  way  between  the  Delta  and  Lokoja  the 
pioneer  Moslem  outposts  are  found  wielding  a  marked 
and  yearly  increasing  influence  on  the  ideas  and  habits 
of  the  natives.  With  each  mile  nearer  the  Sudan  that 
influence  becomes  more  and  more  discernible,  till  before 
we  have  reached  the  confines  of  Gandu  we  have  alto- 
gether  left  behind   the  congenial  trinity — fetishism, 


324 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


cannibalism,  and  the  gin  bottle — and  find  the  erewhile 
unwashed  barbarian  in  a  measure  clothed  and  in  his 
right  mind,  instinct  with  religious  activity  and  en- 
thusiasm, and  wonderfully  far  advanced  in  the  arts  and 
industries.  Here  it  is  clear  that  we  are  in  the  presence 
of  no  assumed  veneer,  no  mere  formality,  no  extraneous 
influences  to  bolster  up  a  savage  people  to  the  semblance 
of  higher  things,  but  face  to  face  with  a  force  which 
has  taken  deep  root  in  the  lives  of  the  inhabitants  and 
altogether  transformed  them. 

On  nearing  Lokoja  we  bade  adieu  to  the  reeking 
plains  and  dense  forest  region,  and  entered  a  picturesque 
section  of  lofty  table-topped  and  peaked  mountains, 
delighting  the  eye  by  their  varied  shape  and  rugged 
aspect — here  stern  and  threatening  with  bare  precipices; 
there  basking  under  the  tropic  sun  in  smiling  slopes, 
beautified  and  shaded  by  groups  of  trees  ;  at  other  places 
swelling  upwards  and  towering  into  fantastic  peaks. 
But  however  delightful  to  us  as  passengers  and  spec- 
tators, this  part  of  the  journey  was  anything  but 
pleasant  to  our  skipper,  whose  whole  thoughts  were 
absorbed  by  the  hidden  rocks  in  the  river-bed  and  the 
fierce  currents  which  swirled  around  them. 

The  passage,  however,  was  safely  accomplished  on  the 
evening  of  the  25th,  and  we  anchored  off  Lokoja  just  as 
the  last  glints  of  sunshine  passed  from  the  hill-tops,  and 
gave  place  to  the  sepia  shades  of  evening. 

In  continuing  our  journey  it  now  behoved  us  to  pro- 
ceed with  more  circumspection.  We  had  reached  the 
southern  confines  of  Gandu,  the  western  half  of  the 
great  Fillani  (Fulah)  Empire.  At  this  time  Malik^, 
Emir  of  Nupe,  held  a  complete  monopoly  of  the  trade 
between  the  Company  and  the  rest  of  Gandu.    We  were 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY. 


325 


only  too  well  aware  that  any  attempt  to  break  through 
this  monopoly  would  be  strenuously  resisted  by  him, 
and  that  therefore  if  he  scented  the  object  of  our  expe- 
dition to  his  liege  lord  at  Gandu,  we  might  bid  adieu  to 
all  hopes  of  advancing  inland.  As  our  presence  could 
not  be  kept  secret  from  him,  we  thought  it  well  to  send 
him  a  letter  merely  to  intimate  that  we  were  passing. 

On  the  28th  we  left  Lokoja  and  pushed  on  to  Rabba, 
at  work  now  in  dead  earnest,  making  up  loads  in  the 
small  hold  of  the  launch,  where  we  were  nearly  roasted 
alive.  At  various  stations  porters  were  shipped  secretly 
and  stowed  away  in  barges,  everything  being  made  ready 
for  a  surprise -march  the  moment  we  landed. 

On  the  8th  April  we  reached  Rabba,  from  which  our 
land  march  was  to  commence.  Malik^  was  still  expecting 
a  visit  from  us  at  Bida,  when  we  were  actually  landing 
a  hundred  miles  to  the  west  with  a  hundred  and  twenty 
men,  two  educated  negro  traders,  one  Arab  interpreter, 
and  two  Europeans  besides  myself.  So  completely  had 
all  our  plans  been  laid  that  we  started  on  the  following 
day,  leaving  the  chiefs  and  headmen  dumfounded  and 
perplexed,  not  knowing  what  to  do  without  instructions 
from  the  capital. 

Our  first  feelings  of  joy  on  leaving  Rabba  behind  were 
speedily  damped  when  one  of  my  European  companions 
got  his  leg  broken,  and  had  to  be  promptly  returned 
to  the  launch.  Soon  a  shoal  of  troubles  and  worries 
descended  on  us.  The  headmen  of  the  various  districts 
began  to  throw  every  possible  obstacle  in  our  way, 
refusing  us  guides,  porters,  and  food.  The  men,  un- 
accustomed to  scanty  fare  and  the  steady  grind  of  a 
caravan  march,  mutinied,  and  tried  to  force  us  to  turn 
back.    They  threatened  to  murder  us,  and  more  than 


326 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


once  presented  their  rifles  at  us  by  way  of  intimidation. 
One  man  tried  to  stab  me,  and  was  only  secured  after 
a  terrific  struggle,  the  porters  passively  looking  oh. 
Yet  it  was  a  matter  of  life  and  death  to  us  that  we 
should  press  forward  in  spite  of  all  opposition — a  few 
days  might  mean  ruin  to  the  expedition,  by  giving  the 


HAUSSA  HUT. 


emir's  messenger  time  to  come  up  with  us.  The  thought 
inspired  us  to  redouble  our  exertions.  We  fought  like 
men  at  bay,  though  we  were  but  two  against  a  hundred 
and  twenty;  and  happily  by  dint  of  machiavellian  strategy 
and  diplomacy,  with  not  a  little  determined  flourishing 
of  revolvers,  we  came  out  of  the  battle  triumphant — 


THE  KOYAL  NIGER  COMPANY. 


327 


safe  beyond  the  clutches  of  Malike,  and  complete  masters 
of  the  situation. 

It  is  quite  beyond  the  scope  of  this  chapter  to  tell  how 
we  continued  our  way  through  Nupe  to  Kontakora,  and 
thence  by  way  of  Yauri,  the  Niger,  and  Gulbi-n-Gindi  to 
Jega,  Sokoto,  and  Wurnu,  where  the  Sultan  of  Sokoto 
had  established  his  court. 

Here  we  were  in  a  region  teeming  with  varied  interest, 
having  reached  the  religious,  political,  and  commercial 
centre  of  the  Western  and  Central  Sudan.  We  could 
hardly  believe  our  senses,  and  realise  that  we  were  in 
the  heart  of  Africa,  among  a  people  popularly  called 
negroes.  Rather  did  it  seem  to  us  as  if,  worn  out  by 
the  tiresome  miles  and  the  monotonous  jogging  of  our 
horses,  we  had  fallen  asleep,  and  in  a  dream  imagined 
ourselves  in  some  part  of  Moorish  Africa.  A  blazing 
sun  beat  down  with  terrific  effect  upon  a  parched  land, 
in  which  here  and  there  appeared  green  oases  of  acacia, 
baobab  and  down  palm,  in  which  nestled  villages  and 
towns  half  hid  by  the  grateful  shadow  of  the  foliage. 

On  all  hands,  as  we  pushed  along,  we  were  reminded  of 
Mohammedan  customs,  of  eastern  amplitude  of  dress,  if 
not  of  gorgeousness  of  colour.  Everything  bore  the  im- 
press of  Moorish  ideas  and  North  African  civilisation. 
In  the  early  dewy  mornings,  in  the  sultry  heats  of  noon- 
tide, at  the  close  of  the  tropic  day,  we  could  hear  the 
sacred  call  to  prayer.  By  the  wayside,  far  from  mosque 
and  town,  were  to  be  seen  spots  marked  off  by  stones, 
which  with  silent  eloquence  invited  the  dusty  and  foot- 
sore traveller  to  stay  his  weary  march  and  wean  his 
thoughts  for  a  moment  from  his  worldly  affairs. 

The  types  of  men,  the  fashions  in  dress,  were  of  the 
most  varied  character. 


328 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


Specially  interesting  were  those  mysterious  people  the 
Fillani,  or  Fulah,  numbers  of  whom  passed  us  from  time 
to  time.  Simple  herdsmen,  semi- nomadic  in  habit,  and 
semi-serfs  in  position  at  the  beginning  of  this  century — 
warriors  and  Mohammedan  propagandists  a  few  years 
later — they  are  now  the  rulers  of  a  hundred  races  be 
tween  the  Atlantic  and  Bornu.    Portentously  pictur- 


PORTRAIT  OF  THE  SULTAN  OF  SOKOTO'S  BROTHER. 


esque,  with  their  voluminous  garments,  their  massive 
turbans,  and  litham-\ eiled  faces,  they  pranced  along  on 
gorgeously  caparisoned  horses  with  the  dignified  bearing 
of  the  Moor. 

More  numerous  were  the  Haussa,  the  most  intelligent 
and  industrious  of  black  races. 

Very  different  from  this  interesting  people  were  the 
Tuareg  visitors  from  the  plateau  lands  of  Asben,  who 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY.  329 


stalked  past  us  in  artistically  ragged  dresses,  with  eyes 
which  seemed  to  glow  in  the  shadow  of  their  face  cloth 
and  overhanging  turban  with  the  fiercest  of  human 
passions. 

On  the  24th  May  the  goal  of  our  expedition  was 
reached,  and  the  object  of  our  mission  attained  a  very 
few  days  after.  No  time  was  then  lost  in  proceeding 
to  Gandu,  where  similar  success  met  our  efforts;  and 
then  with  treaties  written  in  Arabic,  sealed  with  the 
seals  of  the  two  Sultans,  and  signed  by  their  respective 
wazirs,  practically  placing  their  two  empires  under  a 
British  Protectorate,  and  giving  all  commercial  privi- 
leges to  the  National  African  Company,  we  commenced, 
with  no  small  elation,  our  return  home. 

The  one  unpleasant  occurrence  which  marked  our 
journey  coastwards  was  the  stealing  of  my  journals  and 
personal  effects,  though  happily  the  precious  treaties 
remained  safe.  Rabba  was  duly  reached,  and  thence 
we  continued  our  way  down  the  river  in  canoes  to 
Lokoja.  On  the  way  the  German  expedition,  which 
had  meanwhile  been  set  afoot  with  a  view  to  fore- 
stalling other  nations  in  the  regions  we  had  just  quitted, 
was  met  moving  up  the  river,  all  unconscious  of  the 
fact  that  not  a  yard  of  ground  from  Timbuktu  to 
Akassa,  or  from  Bornu  to  Yoruba,  had  been  left  on 
which  to  plant  the  flag  of  the  Fatherland. 

Within  seven  months  after  leaving  Liverpool  I  was 
back  home  again,  my  work  successfully  accomplished  in 
a  much  shorter  time  than  at  the  outset  I  had  dared 
to  hope. 

Next  year  our  Government,  now  awake  to  the  errors 
of  the  past,  and  recognising  the  incontestable  claims 


330 


MUNGO  PAKK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


and  magnificent  patriotic  enterprise  of  the  National 
African  Company,  granted  it  a  Royal  Charter,  and  the 
right  to  the  title  of  Royal  Niger  Company,  which  it 
now  bears. 

The  Right  Honourable  Lord  Aberdare  was  its  first 
Governor,  and  Sir  George  Goldie— to  whose  diplomatic 
genius  and  untiring  industry  this  country  as  well  as 
the  Company  owes  so  much — was  the  Deputy-Chairman. 
Around  these  gathered  as  counsellors  and  advisers  many 
who  had  been  among  the  pioneers  of  British  trade  and 
influence  on  the  Niger,  and  had  assisted  in  preparing 
the  way  for  the  magnificent  national  undertaking  they 
have  lived  to  see  inaugurated.  Among  these  are  the 
Messrs.  Miller,  Mr.  Edgar,  and  Mr.  Croft,  whose  names 
cannot  but  find  an  honourable  place  in  the  annals  of 
the  Company. 

Of  the  career,  bright  with  promise,  upon  which  the 
Company  has  thus  entered,  it  is  unnecessary  to  speak 
at  length.  Already  good  results  are  flowing  from  the 
new  administration.  The  gin  traffic  has  been  taken  in 
hand,  suppressed  where  possible,  and  restricted  elsewhere 
by  enormous  duties.  Arms  and  gunpowder  are  also  no 
longer  sold  wholesale  to  the  savage  natives.  The  re- 
sources of  the  country  are  being  tested  and  developed 
as  they  never  were  before,  and  with  the  most  gratifying 
results. 

In  closing  this  record  of  Niger  exploration  we  cannot 
do  better  than  quote  the  prophetic  words  of  M 'Queen — 
applicable  still,  though  later  than  they  might  have  been 
in  approaching  fulfilment.  He  it  was  who  first  con- 
clusively demonstrated  the  course  and  termination  of 
the  great  river.     His  was  the  first  warning  of  the 


THE  ROYAL  NIGER  COMPANY. 


331 


certainty  of  the  French  advance;  his  the  clear  vision 
which  foresaw  the  necessity  of  a  Chartered  Company. 
Let  him,  then,  speak  for  the  future,  foretelHng  what  is  to 
come,  as  he  foretold  what  is  now  past,  in  the  concluding 
words  of  his  Commercial  Survey  of  the  Region. 

"  I  have  thus,  though  feebly,  I  confess,  in  comparison 
to  the  magnitude  of  the  subject  brought  forward,  com- 
pleted the  object  which  I  had  in  view,  namely,  to  call 
the  attention  of  the  British  Government,  and  the  power 
and  energies  of  our  people,  to  an  honour  of  the  first 
rank,  and  at  the  same  time  endeavoured  to  rouse  the 
resource  and  enterprise  of  our  merchants  to  engage  in 
a  trade  of  the  first  magnitude.  By  means  of  the  Niger 
and  its  tributary  streams,  it  is  quite  evident  that  the 
whole  trade  of  Central  Africa  may  be  rendered  exclu- 
sively and  permanently  our  own.  ...  To  support  and 
carry  into  execution  the  measures  necessary  to  accom- 
plish this  undertaking  is  worthy  of  the  ministry  of 
Great  Britain,  and  worthy  of  the  first  country  of  the 
world.  It  will  confer  immortal  honour  on  our  native 
land,  lasting  glory  on  the  name  and  reign  of  George  the 
Fourth,  bring  immense  and  permanent  advantages  to 
Britain,  and  bestow .  incalculable  blessings  and  benefits 
on  Africa.  Agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce, 
learning  and  religion,  will  spread  rapidly  and  widely 
over  a  country  abounding  in  the  richest  productions 
whether  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  or  below  it,  but  at 
present  a  country  overspread  with  the  most  abject  servi- 
tude, and  sunk  in  the  deepest  ignorance,  superstition, 
and  barbarity.  Every  obstacle  will  vanish  before  judi- 
cious and  patient  exertions.  The  glory  of  our  Creator, 
the  good  of  mankind,  the  prosperity  of  our  country,  the 


332 


MUNGO  PARK  AND  THE  NIGER. 


interest  of  the  present  and  the  welfare  of  future  genera- 
tions— glory,  honour,  interest  call  us,  and  united  point 
out  the  sure  path  to  gain  the  important  end.  Let  but 
the  noble  Union  Ensign  wave  over  and  be  planted  by 
the  stream  of  the  mighty  Niger,  and  the  deepest  wounds 
of  Africa  are  healed." 


INDEX. 


Adamawa,  13. 

Africa,  early  exploration  of,  2,  16. 
 English  in,  24,  26,  29,  46-245,  255, 

257,  265,  276,  289,  299,  308,  293-332. 

 French  in,  29,  291,  302-306,  313. 

 Germans  in,  317. 

 Portuguese  in,  20. 

African  Association,  the,  31,  41,  45, 176, 

178,  184. 

 Company,  the,  28. 

Agades,  17. 

Ahmed  Baba  of  Timbuktu,  11. 
Akassa,  320. 
Ali  of  Bornu,  13. 

 of  Ludamar,  83,  93. 

Amadi  Fatuma,  Park's  guide,  233,  237, 

238,  239,  243. 
Anderson,    Dr.    Alexander,  Park's 

brother-in-law,  194,  214,  217,  222,  232. 
Arabs,  7,  16,  272. 
Arab  conquests,  6. 

 explorers,  16. 

 historians,  16. 

Armour,  Sudanese,  270. 
Askia,  10. 
 Ishak,  11. 

Badagry,  278,  281,  283. 
Bady,  203. 

Bafing  K,  151,  210,  213. 
Baikie,  Dr.,  299,  308. 
Bakhoy  or  Furkomo,  215. 
Bambaku,  202. 

Bambarra,  district  of,  72,  76,  105,  226. 

 king  of,  108. 

Bambuk,  29,  34. 


Bammaku,  128,  226. 
Bangassi,  220. 

Banks,  Sir  Joseph,  41,  45,  184,  194. 
Barth,  8-12,  239,  297. 

 quoted,  9,  10,  12. 

Bathurst,  46. 

Bawa,  king  of  Haussa,  250. 
Beecroft,  Governor,  296. 
Bees,  caravan  attacked  by,  147,  205. 
Bello,  Sultan  of  Sokoto,  252,  275,  277. 
Benaum,  Moorish  camp  at,  82. 

 Park's  reception  at,  83. 

Benin,  Bight  of,  193,  260. 

Benue  or  Tchadda,  119,  274,  286,  295, 

298,  316. 
Berbers,  8,  268. 
Berlin  Conference,  316. 
BIntingala,  154. 
BIrni-n-Kebbi,  119. 
Birthplace  of  Park,  36. 
Biru,  15,  113. 

Bombyx  or  silk-cotton  tree,  46. 
Bondou,  district  of,  58,  59,  258. 
Bornu,  district  of,  9,  12,  246,  270. 

 historians  of,  13. 

 kings  of,  13. 

 rise  to  political  importance,  13. 

Bridge,  a  primitive,  151. 

Bushreens,  51. 

Bussa,  240,  261,  279,  283. 

CAILL^,  290-292. 

Campbell,  Captain,  expedition  of,  257. 
Captivity  of  Park.   See  Park. 
Caravan,  a  day  with,  218. 
 an  early,  56, 


334 


INDEX. 


Caravan,  Park's,  201. 

 a  slave,  143-158. 

Catherine,  the,  voyage  of,  24. 
Chad,  Lake,  9,  193,  269. 
Chandos,  Duke  of,  28. 
Charlestoivn,  the,  161. 
Charms,  127. 

Charter  for  Royal  Niger  Company,  330. 
Chivalry,  Pagan,  an  example  of,  152. 
Christianity  in  Africa,  6,  161,  323. 
Clapperton,  Lieutenant,  265-275. 
Commerce,  articles  of,  160,  30S,  309. 

 on  the  Gambia,  48. 

 on  the  Niger,  309. 

Companies,  chartered,  262,  314. 

 commercial,  enterprise  of,  294- 

332. 

Company,  the  African,  28. 
Congo  Pdver,  the,  192,  256. 

 cataracts  of,  256. 

Conversion,  a  Mohammedan  mode  of, 
70. 

Counti  Mamadi,  113,  123. 
Cowries,  111,  231. 
Customs,  Negro,  56,  58,  77. 

Daisy,  king  of  Kaarta,  89,  94. 

Dalli,  81. 

De  Barros,  21. 

Debo  (Dibbie)  Lake,  118. 

Demba,  Park's  servant,  54,  68,  79,  80, 

82,  89,  92,  159. 
Denham,  Major,  265,  273. 
Dibalami  Dunama  Selmami,  king  of 

Bornu,  13. 
Dina,  79,  82. 

Discovery.  See  Exploration,  African. 
Dunama  ben  Hume,  king  of  Bornu,  12. 
DuU,  113. 

EAST  India  Company,  42, 
Ebn  Batuta,  16. 

 Khaldun,  8,  16. 

 Said,  13,  16. 

Edris  Alawoma,  13. 

 king  of  Bornu,  13. 

Education,  Mohammedan,  141,  249. 
Edwards,  Mr.  Bryan,  165,  166,  171. 
Effects  of  European  intercourse,  50. 
Egga,  284,  296. 


Egypt,  15. 
El  Bekri,  16. 
 Edrisi,  16. 

Endeavour,  the,  voyage  of,  46. 
English.   See  Africa,  English  in. 
Explorers.    See  Exploration. 
Exploration,  African,  under — 

The  Nasamones,  4. 

Ebn  Batuta,  16. 

Leo  Africanus,  16. 

Gilianez,  21. 

Nuno  Tristan,  21. 

Fernandez,  21. 

Lancelot,  21. 

Bichard  Thompson,  24. 

Bichard  Jobson,  26. 

Bartholomew  Stibbs,  29. 

Ledyard,  32. 

Lucas,  32. 

Horneman,  33. 

Houghton,  33. 

Park,  46-242. 

Tuckey,  255. 

Peddle,  257. 

Campbell,  257. 

Gray,  258. 

Denham  and  Clapperton,  265-275. 
Clapperton  and  Lander,  276-281. 
The  Brothers  Lander,  282-287. 
Laing,  288-290. 
Caille,  290-292. 
Barth,  297. 
Baikie,  308. 

Commercial  companies,  294-332. 


FACTORIES,  48. 

Faleme  River,  34,  61,  154,  208,  210. 

Falika,  59,  60. 

Family,  the,  of  Park,  177. 

Fatticonda,  60,  62. 

Fernandez,  21. 

Fetters  of  slaves,  140. 

Fevers,  African,  aini  Europeans,  208-t 

211,  212,  214,  219,  256. 
Flegel,  317. 
Formosa  River,  255. 
Fortifications,  Negro,  216. 
Foulshiels,  37,  169,  187. 
French.    See  Africa,  French  in. 
 African  Companies,  29,  313. 


INDEX. 


335 


Fulahs,  Fulatah,  or  Fillani,  the,  14, 
59,  246-253,  328. 

 characteristics  of,  248. 

 conquest  of  Sudan  by,  251. 

 history  of,  248. 

 nomadic  habits,  248. 

 pastoral  life,  248. 

Fulahdu,  248. 
Fuludu  Mountains,  73. 
Furkomo  River.   See  Bakhoy. 
Futa  Jallon,  district  of,  291. 

 Larra,  70. 

 Torra,  152. 

Gallieni,  Captain,  304-306. 
Gambia,  commerce  on,  48. 

 exploration  of,  21,  24,  26,  29,  157, 

158,  198,  203. 
Gandu,  119,  253,  329. 
Ghana  or  Ghanata,  8,  10, 17,  192. 
Gilianez,  21. 

Gin  trade,  the,  50,  161,  167,  249. 
Gober,  17,  250. 
Gogo,  12,  16. 

Gold,  29.  ^ 

Goree,  161,  178,  196. 

Government,  British,  the,  and  the 

Niger,  2%,  299,  301. 
Gray,  Captain,  expedition  of,  258. 
Guinea,  Gulf  of,  255. 
Gulbi-n-Gindi  River,  239,  327. 
Gum,  29. 
Gurma,  237. 

Hadj  Mohammed  Askia,  lo. 
Hanno,  expedition  of,  2. 
Haussa  States,  119,  193,  239,  246. 
Hawkins,  23. 
Heat,  tropic,  230. 
Herodotus,  3,  4. 
Hibbert,  Mr.  George,  168. 
Historians,  African,  3,  8,  11,  13, 16,  21. 
Horneman,  32,  178 
Hospitality,  Negro,  68,  109. 
Houghton,  Major,  S3. 

IBO,  the,  286. 

Inauguration  of  modem  exploration, 
31. 

Intercourse,  European,  effects  of,  50. 


Isaaco,  Park's  guide,  200,  203,  215,  226, 
233,  237,  243. 

 attacked  by  a  crocodile,  215. 

Islam.    See  Mohammedanism. 

Jalonka  Wilderness,  the,  137, 145- 
151. 

Jarra  or  Yarra,  75,  77,  91. 
Jenn^  or  Jinni,  12,  119,  237,  291. 
Jillifri,  46. 

Jinbala,  Island  of,  119,  237. 
Joag,  65. 

Jobson,  Richard,  26,  157. 

Johnson,  Park's  servant,  54,  66,  79,  89, 

94,  159. 
Joliba.   See  Niger. 
.Toloffs  or  Jaloff s,  the,  65,  152,  249. 
Jonkakonda,  46. 
Journals,  Park's,  236,  254. 

Kaakta,  district  of,  72,  76. 

 capital  of,  74. 

 Park's  reception  at,  74. 

Kabara  or  Kabra,  16,  119,  291. 
Kajaaga,  district  of,  65. 
Kakundy,  291. 
Kamalia,  137. 
Kankan,  291. 
Kano,  17,  193,  275,  280. 
 Clapperton  and  Oudney's  expedi- 
tion to,  274. 
KarfaTaura,  137, 143, 155,  158, 159, 224. 
Kashna  or  Katsena,  17,  191,  193,  233. 
Kasson,  district  of,  68. 
Kayi,  69,  198,  200. 
Kokoro  River,  145. 
Kong  Mountains,  129,  255. 
Konkadu  Mountains,  210. 
Kugha,  18. 
Kuka,  18,  270. 
Kullo,  district  of,  151. 
Kuranka,  Highlands  of,  288. 
Kurusa,  291. 

Kwora  or  Main  Niger,  260. 

Laidley,  Dr.,  34,  47,  54,  158,  159, 
Laing,  Major,  288. 
Lancelot,  21. 

Lander,  Richard,  278,  280. 
Ledyard,  32. 

Z 


336 


INDEX. 


Leo  Alricanus,  16. 
Logun,  district  of,  274. 
Lotophagi,  77. 
Lucas,  32. 

Ludamar,  district  of,  75. 
 Park's  sojourn  in,  78-96. 

iLA.CGREGOR  LAIRD,  293,  299,  308. 
Mage,  E.,  303. 
Makrizi,  16. 
Malacotta,  152. 
ilandara  Mountains,  272. 
Manding,  district  of,  134. 

 famine  in,  135. 

Mandingoes,  55,  160,  249. 
Manga,  Denham's  expedition  to,  273. 
Mangrove  swamps,  46,  256,  286. 
Mausong,  king  of  Bambarra,  108,  111, 
226. 

March,  a  desert,  267. 
Market-place,  an  African,  230. 
Martyn,  Lieutenant,  196,  214,  232,  238, 
242. 

Medina,  33,  56,  158,  202. 
Melli,  kingdom  of,  10,  11. 
Modibu,  115,  122. 

Mohammedanism.  0,  8,  51,  70,  141, 161, 

246,  249,  292,  323. 

 influence  of,  9,  51, 141, 161,  247,  292. 

 propagation  of,  8,  70,  141. 

 spread  of,  6,  249,  323. 

Moorish  conquests,  11. 

 idea  of  beauty,  89. 

Moors,  78-96,  160,  231,  239. 

Morocco,  11,  12,  15,  16. 

Mortality  from  fever,  208,  212,  221,  225, 

229. 
Mosi,  10. 

M'Queen,  James,  17,  258,  314. 

 quoted,  306,  310,  315,  331. 

 theory  of  Xiger  geography,  259. 

 views  on  commercial  importance 

of  yiger,  261. 
Mulai  Hamed,  11. 
Mumbo  Jumlx),  57. 
Murzuk  in  Fezzan,  265. 

Nasamones,  the,  expedition  of,  4. 
Kational  African  Co.    See  United  Afri- 
can C!o. 
Ifecho,  expedition,  of  2. 


Xegro,  the,  and  European  Intercourse, 
50. 

Nereko  River,  61,  158,  203. 

Xew  South  Wales,  Park's  proposed 

mission  to,  177. 
Mger  or  Joliba,  the,  106,  128,  145,  224, 

226,  228,  232. 

 ancient  knowledge  of,  3. 

 commercial  development  under— 

Macgregor  Laird,  294,  299,  308,  309. 

Oldfield  and  Lander,  293,  295. 

Beecroft,  295. 

British  Government,  296,  299. 

The  French,  302-306,  312. 

The  Germans,  317. 

The  Royal  Mger  Co.,  307-332. 

 com-se  of,  118,  254,  283,  291. 

 delta  of,  255,  286,  293. 

 exploration,  of.   See  Exploration, 

African. 

  importance  of,  to  Britain.  See 

M'Queen. 

 Park  reaches,  106. 

 source  of,  288. 

 supposed  identity  with  Congo,  192, 

255,  260. 

 Nile,  4,  260. 

 termination  in  interior,  192. 

 termination  of,  192,  193,  233,  235, 

254,  261,  264-287. 
Mle,  4,  17,  260. 
^'un  River,  293,  319. 
Xunez  River,  257,  291. 
>'upe,  kingdom  of,  191,  193,  280,  284, 

327. 

OTHilAN  DAN  FODIYO,  246-252. 

 conquest  of  Sudan  by,  251, 

Oudney,  Dr.,  265,  275. 
Overweg,  298. 

Park,  Mungo,  early  life,  36-43. 

 choice  of  a  profession,  40. 

 religious  convictions,  43. 

 voyage  to  Sumatra,  44. 

 connection  with  African  Associa- 
tion, 45. 

 first  African  expedition,  46. 

 views  on  the  slave  trade,  49, 168. 

 captivity  among  the  Moors,  85. 


INDEX 


337 


Park,  Muiigo,  his  escape,  %. 

 reaches  the  Niger,  106. 

 journey  to  Silla,  107. 

 return  to  coast,  122. 

 fever  at  Kamalia,  137. 

 reaches  the  Gambia,  lr>6. 

 sails  for  England,  161. 

 reception  in  England,  165. 

 publication  of  journals,  166,  171. 

 nian-iage,  175. 

  proposed  mission  to  New  South 

Wales,  179. 

 practises  medicine  in  Peebles,  ISO. 

 second  journey,  196. 

 propf)sed  route,  191,  195. 

 preparations,  186-195. 

 voyage  down  Niger,  235. 

 death,  242,  279. 

 family  of,  244. 

Park,  Thomas,  son  of  the  explorer,  244. 

Peddie,  Major,  257. 

PeeWes,  Park  s  life  in,  180-184. 

Pisania,  47,  2iX). 

Pliny,  3. 

Portuguese.  See  Africa,  Portugiiese  in. 
Products.  African  commercial,  16^». 
Piotectorate  British,  proclamation  of, 

316,  3-29. 
Ptolemy,  3. 

QlINTIN,  Dr.,  31)8. 

Rabba,  295. 

Railway  between  Senegal  and  Bam- 

maku,  305. 
Rapids,  241,  256. 
Reception,  a  Sudanese,  270. 
Relics  of  Park,  243. 
Rennell,  Major,  165,  192. 
Rennell's  Mountains,  284. 
Rey,  Rio  del,  255. 

Rhamadan,  the  month  of  fasting,  86, 
141. 

Richard,  M.,  and  the  Niger  termina- 
tion, 254. 

Richardson.  297  ,  298. 

Robljers,  Park  among,  130,  203,  216,  218. 

Royal  Niger  Company,  307-332. 

 prospects  of  Niger  basin  under, 

330. 

Ruskin's  charges  against  Park,  181 


Sahara,  11,  lb,  33,  265,  267,  289,  292. 

Samaku  River,  208. 

Sansandig,  113,  123,  229,  230,  237,  243. 

Saphias.    See  Charms. 

Sceneiy,  African,  27,  46,  55,  65,  69,  203 

210,  213,  240,  272,  283,  320,  321. 
School,  a  Mohammedan,  141. 
Scott,  Mr.  George,  194,  214. 
 Sir  Walter's,  friendship  with  Park 

1S7. 

"  Scramble  for  Africa,"  the,  316. 
Sego,  106,  107,  226. 

 Park's  reception  at,  108. 

Senegal,  the,  21,  29,  69,  145. 

 exploration  of,  20. 

 the  French  on,  .302. 

Senegambia,  9,  21. 
Serawulies,  the,  65,  155. 
Shari  River,  274. 
Shea  butter,  112. 
Sibidulu,  129,  134. 
Sieur  Brue,  29,  8  ). 

  Denham  and  Toole's  expedition 

to.  274. 
Snic,  117,  237. 

Slave  caravan,  departure  of  a,  144. 
 raid,  a,  272. 

 route,  horrors  of,  49,  143-1 5;J. 

 ship,  a,  162. 

 trade,  23,  48,  147-149,  155.  156. 

 Park's  views  on,  49,  168,  174. 

Slaves,  how  obtained,  136,  140. 
Sokoto,  10,  253,  275,  327. 
Sonakies,  51. 

Song  of  the  Negro  women,  110. 
Songhay,  kingdom  of,  9,  10,  246,  299. 

 kings  of,  10. 

 historians  of,  11. 

Stibbs,  Bartholomew,  29. 
St.  Joseph,  Fort,  29,  69. 
St.  Louis,  Fort,  29. 
Stnvbo,  3. 

Sudan,  the,  8,  14,  269. 

 Christianity  in,  6. 

 Denham's  expedition  to,  266. 

 early  exploration  of,  2. 

 early  trade  with,  15. 

 Fulah  conquest  of,  251. 

 historians  of,  3,  8,  11,  13  16. 

 Mohammedan  conquest  of,  6,  9 

246,  2.54. 


338 


INDEX. 


Sudan,  Moorish  conquest  of,  11. 
Superstitions,  Negro,  56,  58, 68,  73,  121, 
202,  205,  231. 

Tambaura  Mountains,  211. 
Tchadda.    See  Benu6. 
Tenda,  29,  203. 

 wilderness,  157,  204. 

Thompson,  Richard,  24. 
Thomson,  Joseph,  318-329. 
Tibbu  tribes,  267. 

Timbuktu,  8,  15,  16,  48,  119,  237,  288, 
291. 

 first  entered  by  a  European,  289. 

Tombaconda  or  Tombakuuda,  157 
Toole,  274. 

Treaties,  commercial,  with  Sokoto  and 

Gandu,  329. 
Tripoli,  13,  15,  265,  275,  289. 
Tuaregs,  15,  237,  239,  289,  328. 
Tuckey,  Captain,  on  the  Congo,  255. 
Twat  or  Tuat,  oasis  of,  10,  12,  16,  289. 

ttnited  African  Company,  the,  312, 
S15,  316,  317. 


Voyage  of  the  Catherine,  24. 

 Endeavour,  46. 

 Joliba,  235. 

Wadan,  13. 
Walata,  15,  16. 

Wali,  district  of,  33,  56,  158,  202. 
Wangara,  191,  192,  254. 
Wawra,  105. 
Wonda,  135. 

 River,  146. 

Wuladu,  213,  217. 

Wuli,  district  of,  33,  56,  153,  202. 

Wulima  River,  222. 

VVurnu,  327. 

Yakoba,  280. 
Yamina,  126,  228. 
Yarra.    See  Jarra. 
Yauri  River,  240,  327. 
Yeou  River,  270. 
Yoruba,  279. 

Zeghaza,  12. 


1 


J 


 J 


DT356  .P37T4 
Mungo  Park  and  the  Niger. 


Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1  1012  00149  1267 


